One of the constant scenarios that float around in various communities is the idea of cruise ship casinos and their regulations, or lack thereof. We get questions like this to explain how things differ on cruise ships vs. land-based ones:
My friend and I are Carnival cruisers, mostly for the casinos. I’ve heard that cruise ships don’t have the same regulations as land casinos. Can you explain what this means?
Cybele R.
And
How do the gaming rules differ between land based casinos and those on cruise ships?
Steven
One reason cruise ships don’t allow gambling while in most ports is that they have to follow the regulations for the location they’re in – up to a certain distance, the waters surrounding various locations are effectively governed by the territory whose shores they surround.
Once in international waters, cruise ships aren’t under the regulations of any state/province/country/etc. So theoretically they could choose to follow no rules at all.
In practice, they don’t, and that’s because the various cruise lines that are part of the Cruise Line Industry Association (and there’s a lot of them) have set some ground rules they commit to as part of their membership in the organization. Most critically:
CLIA’s members have adopted a policy that all equipment purchased and installed on cruise vessels will meet the regulatory standards of the Nevada Gaming Control Board or other licensed jurisdiction for payback and internal software. Cruise Line Industry Association Website
So for players, what that means is the regulations that protect players in some of the most well-established markets, like Nevada, are similarly applied on cruise ships. They’re buying the same machines from the same game makers as those installed in locations like Nevada and New Jersey.
So while there isn’t a government specifically mandating it, the cruise lines are following the same rules. And in some ways, that makes it easier, because they know the games they buy have already been screened for fairness, and will work as expected – not an insignificant thing for any casino business.
But this also means cruise ship casinos don’t pay better on the first day like many people think either, because the RNG works the same way on ships it works on land.
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