Posted on February 24, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
America’s Las Vegas Sands Corporation has purchased two airplanes and is retrofitting them to serve as private jets ferrying high-rollers from Hong Kong to the company’s two Nevada casinos.
Although a 1994 law appeared to remove any possibility of legal gambling on by disallowing the operation of gaming devices on flights in or out of the United States, several loopholes have developed allowing Sands to potentially begin play on its charter flights for high-rollers.
Several airlines had experimented with in-transit gambling before the law was enacted. However, the crash of Swissair Flight 111 was attributed to the electronic gambling entertainment package inside the aircraft, which apparently caught fire. This, along with the law, chilled airline plans for gambling.
Harrah’s attempted to develop an electronic system for aircraft, but discontinued the project due to recurring technical problems. MGM Mirage had not pursued the idea, as the company thought the law explicitly ruled out all forms of gambling. Steve Wynn also considered the idea, but dropped it.
Gambling on private aircraft is viewed as similar to cruise ships and the casino may only be open while the craft is in international waters. The company has already filed a Foreign Gaming Notification Statement with the Control Board stating that it planed to conduct foreign gaming in international waters over global airspace.
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