I. Nelson Rose

In 1979, while still a student at Harvard Law School, Prof. Rose developed the theory of the Third Wave of Legal Gambling."The Legalization and Control of Casino Gambling," Fordham Urban Law Journal, vol.8, p.245 (Winter, 1980) Examining the dates when laws had been enacted in the past, he concluded that legal gambling had twice before swept the nation. He correctly predicted that state lotteries, casinos and other forms of gambling would once again be made legal in the United States. According to the theory, legal gambling will continue to spread, until it is once again outlawed.{{Cite journal |last=Rose |first=I. |date=2010-01-01 |title=Gambling and the Law: The Third Wave of Legal Gambling |url=https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/mslj/vol17/iss2/5/ |journal=Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - ) |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=361 |issn=1074-9187}}

The Third Wave of Legal Gambling theory inspired both entrepreneurs and governments to expand legal gaming, in part because it showed how much money could be made by the initial operators. "Suppose Prohibition of alcohol had just been repealed. The hypothetical owner of the first and only liquor store in a state would make a fantastic return on investment."{{Cite web |url=http://www.gamblingandthelaw.com/articles/253-the-third-wave-of-legal-gambling.html |title=Gamblingandthelaw.com: The Third Wave of Legal Gambling |access-date=2010-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203030608/http://www.gamblingandthelaw.com/articles/253-the-third-wave-of-legal-gambling.html |archive-date=2010-12-03 |url-status=dead }}

The Third Wave of Legal Gambling theory explains why the states differ so much in their approaches to gaming. Prof. Rose showed the legal problems created by prohibitions in state constitutions dating from the 19th century on lotteries. For example, in 1990, the Mississippi Supreme Court discussed Prof. Rose's Third Wave of Legal Gambling theory in oral argument, concluding that that state's ancient constitutional ban on "lotteries" did not prevent the Mississippi Legislature from legalizing charity bingo.Knight v. State of Mississippi, 574 So.2d 662 (1990). The next year the Legislature authorized casinos, making Mississippi the third leading casino state, after Nevada and New Jersey.

Prof. Rose often acts as a consultant and expert witness for governments and industry,{{Cite web |title=I. Nelson Rose Gaming Article Archive {{!}} Casino City Times |url=https://www.casinocitytimes.com/i-nelson-rose/archives/ |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=www.casinocitytimes.com}} and has given dozens of presentations and classes to regulators, law enforcement, legislators, players, investors, suppliers and operators.

Over the past 40 plus years he has worked with the Federal Governments of the US (Dept. of Justice prosecution of Gov. Edwin Edwards), Canada (Indigenous and Northern Affairs), and Mexico; States and Provinces: Arizona Department of Gaming and Office of Problem Gaming, California Gaming Policy Advisory Committee, Delaware Lottery (setting tax rate on sports books), Florida State Senate (Indian gaming compacts), Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (definition of poker), Hawaii House of Representatives (impact of legalizing casinos on Native Hawaiians' rights), Illinois Gaming Board (casino applicants' duty of due diligence), Michigan State Lottery (sweepstakes scam free entries), New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement ("fair odds" to all players), New Mexico Gaming Control Board, Oregon Governor's Task Force on Gaming, Texas Comptroller (regulation of bingo), Washington State Gambling Commission, British Columbia Attorney General (international lottery sales), Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (vetting casino companies), and Québec (VLTs and compulsive gambling); New South Wales (Bergin Commission); American Territories: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (evaluation of casino writing off >$2 billion in bad debts), District of Columbia (gaming devices), US Virgin Islands (evaluation of casino proposal); Foreign Nations: Czech Republic (purposes of regulating gaming devices), Japan Casino Regulatory Commission, Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos) (suitability of casino licensee, methods of taxing casinos).{{Cite web |last=Rose |first=I. Nelson |title=Curriculum Vitae |url=http://www.gamblingandthelaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Resume-I.-Nelson-Rose.pdf |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=Gambling and the Law |format=PDF}}

He has testified as an expert witness in trials, including a criminal case in Paris, France, involving Internet gambling,Ministère public contre Boris Gramond et autres (affaire pénale française n° 15 246 00064 5) (2023). a billion-dollar class action in Québec,Brochu v. La Société des Loteries du Québec, No. 200-06-000017-015, Superior Court (Civil chamber), Province of Québec, District of Québec (2009). and sports betting before the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales;In the Matter of William Hill PLC, High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2021/967.html (2021). international treaty arbitrations, including a multi-hundred-million dollar hearing held in Paris, France, against the government of the Czech Republic;{{Cite web |title=WCV World Capital Ventures Cyprus Ltd. & Channel Crossings Ltd. v. Czech Republic, PCA Case No. 2016-12 {{!}} italaw |url=https://www.italaw.com/cases/10817 |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=www.italaw.com}} legislative and administrative hearings, including the US Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the US-China Commission; and civil and criminal cases including on the history and meaning of terms such as “poker,” “lottery,” and “casino;” and the impact of a finding of unsuitability on a casino licensee in Nevada and Macau.

Prof. Rose was instrumental in the introduction of freemium games, subscription and sweepstakes gaming, and contests of skill. His clients included the largest no-purchase-necessary poker site“San Francisco's Pure Play gambles on legality of online poker site,” http://archives.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/san-franciscos-pure-play-gambles-on-legality-of-online-poker-site/Content?oid=2597312. Ruth Parasol, inventor of PartyPoker, and King, inventor of Candy Crush®. Prof. Rose's testimony led to the introduction of Texas Hold 'Em and Pai Gow Poker into California cardrooms in the 1980s.Huntington Park Club Corp. v. County of Los Angeles, 206 Cal.App.3d 241, 253 Cal.Rptr. 408 (1988); Walker v. Meehan, 194 Cal.App.3d 1290, 240 Cal.Rptr. 171 (Cal.Ct.App. 1987); Sullivan v. Fox, 189 Cal.App.3d 673, 235 Cal.Rptr. 5 (Cal.Ct.App. 1987). His work with tribes and suppliers on the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and in testifying on what is legal on Indian land helped lead to the creation of the modern tribal bingo hall and casino.United States v.162 MegaMania Gambling Devices, 231 F.3d 713 (10th Cir. 2000); United States v.103 Electronic Gambling Devices, 223 F.3d 1091 (9th Cir. 2000); Diamond Game Enterprises, Inc. v. Janet Reno, 230 F.3d 365 (U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit 2000).

In 1999, the California Supreme Court cited Gambling and the Law in striking down Proposition 5, which had won the most expensive initiative campaign battle in the nation's history, and which would have legalized tribal casinos as “lotteries.”Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Int'l. Union v. Davis, 21 Cal.4th 585, 981 P.2d 990, 88 Cal.Rptr.2d 56 (1999). In 2006, the first NAFTA tribunal involving gaming adopted Prof. Rose's testimony, on behalf of the federal government of Mexico, on what constituted a slot machine as opposed to a game of skill.International Thunderbird Gaming Corporation v. The United Mexican States, http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2006/itn_award.pdf. The North Dakota Supreme Court also adopted his position on what is a slot machine.Midwestern Enterprises, Inc. v. Wayne K. Stenehjem, North Dakota Attorney General, 2001 ND 67, 625 N.W. 2d 234 (2001). The California Supreme Court adopted his testimony on what constituted a banking game, closing down the State Lottery's Keno.Western Telcon, Inc. v. California State Lottery, 13 Cal. 4th 375, 53 Cal. Rptr. 2d 812, 917 P. 2d. 651 (June 24, 1996).

In “Compulsive Gambling and the Law,”{{Cite journal |last=Rose |first=I. Nelson |date=1988 |title=Compulsive gambling and the law: From sin to vice to disease |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF01018430 |journal=Journal of Gambling Behavior |language=en |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=240–260 |doi=10.1007/BF01018430 |issn=0742-0714}} Prof. Rose described how the views of society, and thus of the law, toward problem gambling are changing. In his writings and public presentations, he explained how courts and lawmakers were struggling with the concept that a person might bet too much because they were ill, rather than because they were morally weak. He incorporated the California Council on Problem Gambling and wrote the bill providing funding for the Texas Counsel on Problem Gambling. In 1990, he argued the case of Erickson v. Desert Palace, Inc., before the Ninth Circuit, on behalf of a 19-year-old boy who was denied a million-dollar slot machine jackpot by Caesars Palace, and asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the appeal.942 F.2d 694 (9th Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 112 S.Ct. 1476 (1992). Prof. Rose was instrumental in getting governments and operators to put in place protections for compulsive and underage gamblers.John Prof. Rosengren, “How Casinos Enable Gambling Addicts,” The Atlantic Monthly, 2016 WLNR 35017984 (November 15, 2016).

Prof. Rose is the co-author of Internet Gaming Law (1st{{Cite book |last=Rose |first=I. Nelson |title=Internet gaming law: gambling and the law |last2=Owens |first2=Martin D. |date=2005 |publisher=Liebert |isbn=978-0-913113-36-3 |location=New York, NY}} and 2nd{{Cite book |last=Rose |first=I. Nelson |title=Internet gaming law |last2=Owens |first2=Martin D. |date=2009 |publisher=Liebert |isbn=978-1-934854-00-6 |edition=2. ed., rev. and expanded |location=New Rochelle, NY}} editions), Blackjack and the Law,ISBN 0-910575-08-8 and the first casebook on the subject, Gaming Law: Cases and Materials.{{Cite book |title=Gaming law: cases and materials |date=2003 |publisher=LexisNexis |isbn=978-0-8205-4906-4 |editor-last=Jarvis |editor-first=Robert M. |location=Newark, NJ}} His work was pivotal in having gaming law recognized as a legitimate field of study, recognized by law publishing’s giant West Publishing when it asked him to co-author a book on the subject for its essential Nutshell series: Gaming Law in a NutshellChampion, Jr., Walter T.; and I. Nelson Rose, Gaming Law in a Nutshell, West Academic, a Thomson Reuters business. ISBN 978-0-314-27836-4. in 2012, and the second edition in 2017.Champion, Walter T., Jr., and I. Nelson Rose. Gaming Law in a Nutshell. 2nd ed., West Academic Publishing, 2017. ISBN 978‑1‑634‑60581‑6. Prof. Rose was co-editor-in-chief of the Gaming Law Review & Economics for more than 12 years and is now editor emeritus.Gaming Law Review, http://www.liebertpub.com/products/product.aspx?pid=16. He is often a featured speaker at gaming law conferences around the world.See, e.g., https://www.gamblingstudies.org/i-nelson-rose; “I. Nelson Rose to keynote GIGSE,” (April 4, 2007) https://www.gamingmeets.com/article/i-nelson-rose-to-keynote-gigse-165179/; “Spotlight: Professor I. Nelson Rose Speaking at the IMGL Autumn Conference,” httpss://www.imgl.org/conferences/autumn/schedule/2018.

Prof. Rose graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in 1973 and with a J.D. in 1979 from Harvard Law School. Immediately following graduation from Harvard, Rose moved to Hawaii to practice law. He passed the Hawaii and California bars and has also been admitted to practice in federal courts, including Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.

While in Hawaii, Prof. Rose established the state's first eye bank, the Hawai'i Lions Eye Bank & Makana Foundation, in 1981. He helped get state law changed to allow donor stickers on drivers' licenses and permit trained nurses to harvest tissue. Prof. Rose served as legal counsel to the eye bank from 1981-1983.

Prof. Rose joined what was then named Whittier College School of Law in 1973 as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Over the years, he was promoted to Full Professor with tenure. In Fall 1983, Prof. Rose developed and taught the first law school class on Gaming Law.Robert M. Jarvis, "A Survey of Law School Gaming Courses," Gaming Law Review, vol. 11, Issue 3 (2007)[http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/glr.2007.11311 Liebertonline.com: A Survey of Law School Gaming Courses] Today there are at least 31 law schools with courses in Gaming Law, as well as graduate business schools and undergraduate colleges, many using the casebook Rose co-authored.

In 1993-1994, Prof. Rose became the first Visiting Scholar for the University of Nevada-Reno's Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming. His Gaming Law classes were open to undergraduates, graduate students, and practicing lawyers and regulators. At that time, Nevada had no law school, so Prof. Rose was the only person teaching Gaming Law in the nation's leading state for legal gaming.

In 2004, Prof. Rose taught a seminar on International Gaming Law for Whittier Law School's Summer Abroad program in China. He taught the same class the following years in Spain and France. He also taught classes on gaming law to the FBI; at colleges in Slovenia; and, at UNR's professional training courses in Reno, Tahoe, and to Macau Polytechnic in Macau. Prof. Rose began co-teaching with Professor Jorge Godinho, a post-graduate class in International Gaming Law at the University of Macau in 2007. Prof. Rose taught the course every summer, in May or June, through 2021. He also participated as the lead judge for students defending their Masters' theses on issues related to legal gambling.

In 2012 and 2015, Prof. Rose served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Melbourne Law School in Australia, teaching the post-graduate course “Gambling, Policy, and the Law” as part of the Melbourne Law Masters program. In addition, Prof. Rose delivered presentations on gaming law developments at international trade and gaming law conferences put on by the American Bar Association, International Masters of Gaming Law, International Association of Gaming Advisors (originally National and then International Association of Gaming Attorneys), US Conference of Mayors, National Conference of State Legislatures, International Political Science Association World Congress, National Council on Compulsive Gambling, North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, World Lottery Association, National Equine Law Conference, World Poker Industry Conference, and International Association of Gaming Regulators.

Prof. Rose has been qualified, and has testified, as an expert witness on matters relating to gambling before the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (US Federal Government); National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences; and in other legislative and administrative hearings, civil and criminal trials, and international treaty arbitrations in California, Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Washington, U.S. Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Ontario, Québec, Australia, New Zealand, France and other jurisdictions. He testified as an expert in cases involving casino gaming; lotteries, including keno and the New York and California State Lotteries; bingo, including mechanical devices in Alabama, California and Texas; Indian gaming; skill versus chance; the meaning of gambling terms and the legality of proposed games. He wrote amicus briefs, including to the Alabama Supreme Court. He has acted as a consultant to major law firms, international corporations, licensed casinos, Indian tribes, and local, state, and national governments. He has also worked with the largest operators, including Nevada and Atlantic City casinos, California cardrooms, state and national lotteries, racetracks, Indian tribes, and online gambling operators.

With the rising interest in gambling throughout the world, Rose has addressed such diverse groups as the National Conference of State Legislatures, Congress of State Lotteries of Europe and the National Academy of Sciences. He has presented scholarly papers on gambling in Nevada, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Canada, England, Australia, Antigua, Portugal, Italy, Argentina, Norway, and the Czech Republic. {{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Prof. Rose began writing his internationally syndicated column, “Gambling and the Law®”, in 1983 for Gambling Times magazine. He later self-syndicated the column to other publications, both on and off the Internet, directed at laymen and professionals interested in the legal gambling industries. In 1991, he was granted the federal trademark on “Gambling and the Law®”Serial Number 76515895. “For: syndicated and featured articles appearing in a variety of magazines and newspapers; and books, on the topic of gambling.” His main writing is now a blog at [https://gamblingandthelaw.com www.GamblingAndTheLaw.com.]

Prof. Rose also writes scholarly journals and books, usually using his trademark Gambling and the Law®. Articles include: “Daily Fantasy Sports and the Presidential Debate,” co-authored with Martin Owens;Marquette Law Review, vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 301-329 (Spring 2017). “Casinos at the End of the World;”Northern Kentucky (Chase College of Law) Law Review, vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 475-492 (2015). “How Insurance Became (Mostly) Not Gambling;”Gaming Law Review and Economics, vol. 18, no. 9, p. 864 (Nov. 2014). “How Securities Trading Became Legally Not Gambling,”Gaming Law Review and Economics, vol. 15, no. 5, p. 249 (Nov. 2011). “Game on for Internet Gambling,” co-authored with Rebecca Bolin;Connecticut Law Review, vol. 45, no. 2, p. 653 (Dec. 2012). “The DOJ Gives States a Gift;”UNLV Gaming Law Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1-10, Spring 2013. “The Third Wave of Legal Gambling;”illanova Sports & Entertainment Law Journal, vol. 17, pp. 361-388 (2010). “Leading Law Cases on Gambling;”William N. Thompson, The International Encyclopedia of Gambling (ABC-Clio 2010). “Internet Gambling and the Law;”Richmond Journal of Global Law and Business, vol. 8, p. 3 (Fall 2008). “The International Law of Remote Wagering;”John Marshall Law Review, vol. 40, pp. 1159-1193 (Summer 2007). and “The Explosive But Sporadic Growth of Gambling in Asia.”Harvard Asia Pacific Review, vol. 8, no. 2 (Winter 2005). Some of his popular writings include columns and blogs entitled: “Pete Rose Wishes He Had a Translator,” “Casinos on Cruise Ships, Why Not on Airplanes?” “Betting on Beanie Babies,” “Card Counting by Casinos,” and “Prohibition 2.0: The Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006 Analyzed.” His columns and articles are often discussed in the news media, even in non-English language outlets. For example, “Cuba Will Have Casinos, Again” caused a stir in Latin America.Cronica.com.mx: Casinos, ¿quién primero: Cuba o México..? (Miércoles 13 de Enero, 2010), http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?id_nota=480591.

{{reflist|colwidth=35em}}International Thunderbird Gaming Corporation v. The United Mexican States, http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2006/itn_award.pdf.

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Category:Living people

Category:1950 births

Category:American gambling writers

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni