Gaming Industry

Industry Sectors

Our attorneys advise clients across all gaming sectors, including:

Casino Gaming
We regularly counsel major casino companies, gaming-related device and equipment manufacturers and suppliers, investors, and financial institutions. Our attorneys offer advice regarding all matters relating to the licensing, development, acquisition, financing, and operation of land-based casinos and riverboats. Our clients include many of the largest gaming operators and gaming equipment manufacturers in the world, and our experience spans public-private leases, financings, land use approvals, statutory and regulatory interpretation and compliance, licensing, administrative hearings, and litigation.

Video Poker
We advise casinos, truck stop casinos, route operators, manufacturers, and other business entities involved in video poker on a broad range of issues. Our attorneys have made numerous presentations to regional, national, and international groups on issues relating to video poker regulations and compliance, permitting, accounting and reporting, device malfunctions, and other issues.

Pari-Mutuel
We represent clients involved in thoroughbred racing, quarter horse and harness horse racing, greyhound racing, historical horse racing games, advance deposit wagering, jai alai games, and cardroom games. With a multilayered understanding of the pari-mutuel industry, our attorneys regularly and effectively help draft agreements between horsemen, breeders, and racetracks. See a description of our broader equine law practice here.

Tribal Gaming
We effectively navigate the variations across state and federal laws regarding the ability to conduct tribal gaming, particularly as these statutes relate to tribal-state relationships, Class II and Class III gaming issues, and the financing of tribal gaming facilities. Our attorneys counsel clients on the dynamics of tribe sovereignty as it relates to the client’s interactions with both the governmental and private sectors and help find workable solutions for issues that arise. Our team’s extensive experience includes representing tribes and their wholly owned enterprises in myriad key commercial transactions and counseling non-tribal companies in connection with contracts and other agreements to provide goods and services.

Internet Gaming
Our attorneys are integrally involved in federal legislation that pertains to financial services, internet gaming, and the intersection of the two. We also participate in the development and consideration of state bills and regulations relating to remote sports wagering and iGaming across the United States. This unique legislative and policy development experience allows us to provide both domestic and foreign clients a broad range of services in the face of ever-changing international, federal, and state laws. We assist with regulatory compliance, licensing, account and online wagering, and payment processing opinions.

Lottery Services
We represent clients in all facets of the regulated, state-run lottery industry. Our attorneys advise clients in the areas of retailer contracting, fraud prevention, sales and promotions, and procurement matters. We regularly appear at national and international conferences and present and moderate topics relating to the lottery industry, its continued growth, and industry trends. In addition, our attorneys are frequently published on topics ranging from growth opportunities in the lottery space to advising and updating industry attorneys on trending topics such as the outcome of various forms of misprinted ticket litigation from multiple jurisdictions and issues and opportunities around lottery courier services.

Charitable Gaming
Our attorneys actively represent clients in the charitable gaming space, including manufacturers and distributors of games and pull tabs. We assist with regulatory compliance, licensing and provide feedback to regulators on proposed regulations.

Key Areas of Service

Licensing, Regulatory, Compliance, and Enforcement
Jones Walker attorneys have extensive experience advising and assisting gaming clients in connection with licensing, permitting, compliance and enforcement issues, and the interpretation of gaming statutes and regulations. We represent clients in suitability applications and proceedings before state gaming regulatory bodies such as the Florida Gaming Control Commission, the Louisiana State Police, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corp., the Mississippi Gaming Commission, the Texas Lottery Commission, the Virginia Lottery, the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council, and local commissions and tribal authorities in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

Operations
Our attorneys routinely advise clients on operational issues, including negotiating and documenting a wide variety of commercial contracts that are implicated by gaming laws, such as employment contracts, consulting contracts, noncompetition agreements, confidentiality agreements, leases, and purchase agreements. We also represent clients in matters ranging from patron disputes to Jones Act litigation, as well as personal injury and workmen's compensation claims arising out of gaming operations.

Mergers and Acquisitions
Jones Walker is a leader in the gaming industry in acquisitions, sales, and the financing of racing and gaming operations. We act as lead counsel or specialty gaming counsel in deals of all sizes and assist in liaising with gaming regulators for the approval of new operators and management.

Lending and Finance
Our attorneys handle equity investments, secured and unsecured loans, debt and bond offerings, and restructurings for both the development and continued operation of gaming projects. We regularly serve as lead, local, or special lending counsel on these transactions on behalf of gaming companies, financial institutions, private equity groups, and other investors. Our attorneys partner with other advisers and work closely with clients’ in-house and general counsel in efforts to obtain the optimal outcomes.

Governmental Entities
Jones Walker’s Gaming Industry Team has counseled governmental entities such as state agencies and municipalities and tribal entities on a variety of strategic matters, including advising on the selection of gaming licensees in competitive processes and negotiations of casino host development agreements.

Government Relations
Our attorneys regularly appear before legislative committees and regulatory bodies on behalf of our gaming clients. We work closely with legislative and executive branch staff on the state and federal levels and have cultivated professional relationships with legislators and regulatory officials, helping write or amend many of the laws and regulations that govern the gaming industry.

Multidisciplinary Approach
Jones Walker also provides coordinated, multidisciplinary counsel for clients in conjunction with our real estate, construction, development, zoning and land use, corporate and securities, labor and employment, tax, environmental, litigation, white collar criminal defense, and other firm practice groups.