Jones
Walker's gaming practice, the largest in the southeastern United States,
provides full-spectrum legal counsel to clients on gaming law. We represent all
participants in the industry, including casinos, tribes, product manufacturers
and suppliers, pari-mutuels, lottery vendors, sweepstakes and charities. We
also represent other parties — such as investors, lenders and vendors — that
have gaming-related interests.
Since the
advent of legalized gaming in our region, the attorneys of Jones Walker have
played important roles in the development of many of the laws and regulatory
policies that govern the gaming industry in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and
Florida. Our firm also has two lawyers who have served as presidents of the
world's two primary gaming law associations: the International Masters of
Gaming Law and the International Association of Gaming Advisors.
Members
of the team are listed in Chambers Global Guide, Chambers USA, The
Best Lawyers in America, Louisiana Super Lawyers, Florida’s Legal
Elite and other leading publications. Our gaming team partners have also
received top peer-review ratings in Martindale-Hubbell and served as
expert witnesses in litigation involving the gaming industry.
Our
gaming team works with lawyers from throughout the firm's many practice groups
to deliver comprehensive legal advice. Our ability to provide coordinated
counsel in corporate, finance, securities, tax, labor and employment, and other
areas of law helps streamline our work and minimize the risks and steep
learning curves that can arise when using multiple law firms for legal
services.
To keep
clients and gaming-related businesses informed about the latest industry news
and legal developments that affect the gaming industry across the southeast,
our gaming lawyers publish http://www.gulfstatesgaminglaw.com and our
Florida gaming lawyers publish http://floridagamingwatch.com. Both are the
state's most comprehensive gaming websites, which deliver daily updates on
industry news, events and issues in each state and throughout the
southeast.
Industry Sectors
Our
lawyers advise clients in each of the primary gaming sectors:
Casino
Gaming
We
regularly advise major casino companies, gaming-related manufacturers and
suppliers, investors and financial institutions. Our attorneys offer advice
regarding all matters relating to the licensing, development, acquisition,
financing and operations 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,
administrative hearings and litigation.
Video
Poker
We advise
casinos, truckstop casinos, route operators, manufacturers and other parties
involved in video poker on a broad range of issues. Our lawyers 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 horse racing, harness horse racing, greyhound
racing, jai alai games and cardroom games. With a multi-layered understanding
of the horse racing industry, our attorneys regularly and effectively help
draft agreements between horsemen, breeders and horse tracks, among others. In
addition to our work on behalf of clients, one of our partners teaches a class
in gambling and pari-mutuel law at Florida State University College of Law.
Tribal
Gaming
We
understand and appreciate the variations in law regarding tribal gaming issues,
particularly as they relate to tribal-state relationships, Class II and Class
III issues, and financing of tribal gaming facilities. We counsel our clients
on the dynamic created by a tribe's sovereignty as it relates to its
interactions with both the governmental and private sectors, and help find
workable solutions for issues that arise. Our lawyers' 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
government relations attorneys in Washington, D.C., are integrally involved in
federal legislation that pertains to financial services, internet gaming and
the intersection of the two. We are also participating in the development and
consideration of bills relating to internet gaming in those states in which we
practice. 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.
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 in the Gulf
states. We represent clients in suitability applications and proceedings before
state gaming regulatory bodies such as the Louisiana State Police, the
Louisiana Gaming Control Board, the Mississippi Gaming Commission, the Florida
Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and local commissions and
authorities in Alabama.
Operations
Our
attorneys routinely advise clients on operational issues, including negotiating
and documenting a wide variety of commercial contracts that are implicated by
the gaming laws, such as employment contracts, consulting contracts,
non-competition agreements, confidentiality agreements, leases and purchase
agreements. We also represent clients in matters ranging from patron disputes
to Jones Act, personal injury and workmen’s compensation claims arising out of
gaming operations.
Lending
and Finance
Our
attorneys handle equity investments, secured and unsecured loans, debt and bond
offerings, and restructurings for both development and continuing operations 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 can easily partner
with other lawyers and work skillfully and cooperatively with clients' in-house
and general counsel when it best serves the goal at hand.
Government
Relations
Our
attorneys regularly appear before legislative committees on behalf of gaming
clients. We work closely with the legislative and executive-branch staff on
state and federal levels, and have cultivated professional relationships with
legislators and regulatory officials, helping write many of the laws and
regulations that govern the gaming industry.
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.
