updated May 29, 2023
Before we get to casinos, we should warn you that like most places, it's illegal for drivers to text or use a hand-held cell phone while behind the wheel in Nevada. The penalties are $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second, and $250 for the third. Thereafter, a drivers who continues to offend risks forfeiting his or her license.
You can use your smartphones to listen to music, but you can't use smart functions like the navigation system, unless you have it voice-activated.
The only ways that you can legally make and receive calls while driving are via an earpiece, speaker, or Bluetooth device, or if you have to make an emergency call to 911.
Getting to the casinos, cell phones and pagers are banned in sports books, but you can use them in most other places, though signals can be weak with the thick walls and all the electronic interference.
Some people think that the cell phone ban in sports books has to do with the federal prohibition against transmitting gambling info over phone lines. But that's not the reason. The real reason is messenger betting.
Sports-betting syndicates used to station people in sports books around town and when they wanted to bet, for example, $50,000 on a game, they'd call up the "beards" at each book, who'd then bet the max the sports book allowed. By having 10 people, say, betting $5,000 each simultaneously, the syndicate could get the $50K down before the line moved in response to the big action.
Sports books complained to the Gaming Control Board, which put into place a number of rules, including the ban on cell phones in sports books.
It's a particularly ineffective countermeasure. If you walk through a book talking on or listening to a cell, a casino employee will tell you to turn it off. Of course, it's easy enough to stand just outside the room and use your cell phone all you want.
Note, however, that many, if not most, casinos don't allow cell phone use around the pit. Again, it has to do with game protection: A cell phone can be used as a cheating device in various ways.
And of course, they must be turned off during any show or live event.