Modern Brewery Age: NV assembly allows casinos to ship beer state-wide - Nevada

A Nevada Assembly panel voted last week for bill that could let some major Nevada casinos truck booze statewide, bypassing wholesalers who now handle such shipments. Assembly Ways and Means members endorsed AB669, with amendments to only permit liquor inventory transfers among affiliated casinos in a specific marketing area.

For example, the bill lets gambling giants such as Park Place, Harrah's and Mandalay Resort Group, with numerous resorts around Nevada, shift booze from overstocked to under-stocked properties in Las Vegas--but not to affiliates in the Reno or Tahoe areas.

Advocates said AB669 was intended to help major casinos that buy too much liquor for specific events, such as New Years celebrations that turn out to be tamer than expected. But the original bill went further than that.

AB669 is being pushed in the Legislature by lobbyists Morgan Baumgartner and Steve Horsford, representing the Nevada Resort Association which is made up of the state's biggest hotel-casinos.