USA casino guides Index
Alaska law limits gambling to charities, which operate small-scale bingo games and raffles to raise money. In 1993 the state attorney general determined that the law extended into the waters the state controlled within three miles off shore and ordered cruise ships to shut down their casinos.
In most places, the order would not have had much effect because cruises quickly escape the three-mile jurisdiction of American states and operate in international waters, where they are free of regulation.
Cruise industry lobbyists persuaded the Legislature to change the law in 1994, but the governor at the time, vetoed the bill. The next year, the industry won a temporary exemption for a single season.
In the fall of 1996 an amendment was inserted into the Coast Guard authorization bill. The amendment, which applied solely to Alaska, prevented the state from banning gambling except when ships were docked or within three miles of a port of call.
[Jun 2003 last update]
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