Opinion ID: 2330170
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Nevada Gaming Regulation 5.160

Text: FGA argues that the district court erred by taking judicial notice of Nevada Gaming Regulation 5.160, which requires those establishments with a nonrestricted gaming license to have operational surveillance cameras. FGA further argues that the district court abused its discretion by permitting Giglio to present evidence of the regulation while not permitting FGA to present rebuttal evidence that the regulation did not apply to it because it only held a restricted gaming license. Giglio contends that FGA failed to object on the grounds it now asserts on appeal and that FGA was permitted to testify that it held a restricted license and was not subject to the regulation and, therefore, any error was harmless. The nature and extent that a party may present evidence to correct or change testimony rests largely in the discretion of the district court. See Turtenwald v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 55 Wis.2d 659, 201 N.W.2d 1, 8 (1972). However, the legal system has an interest in seeking the truth and encourages the correction of erroneous statements on the part of a witness. See Ex parte Keizo Shibata, 35 F.2d 636, 637-38 (9th Cir. 1929). Here, Giglio requested that the district court take judicial notice of Nevada Gaming Regulation 5.160, which requires nonrestricted gaming licensees to maintain operable video surveillance. Prior to Giglio's request, Frank Vento, testifying as the person most knowledgeable for FGA, stated that FGA held a nonrestricted gaming license. The district court properly took judicial notice of Nevada Gaming Regulation 5.160. See NRS 47.140; NRS 47.150. However, after the district court took judicial notice of the gaming regulation, FGA informed the court that Frank Vento's testimony regarding whether FGA held a restricted or nonrestricted gaming license was incorrect. FGA offered both the testimony of the attorney who represented FGA before the Gaming Control Board and a fax from the Gaming Control Board indicating that the license in question was a restricted gaming license. The district court excluded the evidence and only allowed Carmine Vento, one of the holders of the license, to testify that the license was a restricted license. The court then permitted Giglio to argue that FGA's witnesses lacked credibility because they contradicted each other and that there was no way to know what type of license FGA possesses because it was never produced. [7] In light of the incorrect statements that FGA had a nonrestricted license, the fact that a nonrestricted licensee is required to have a functioning video surveillance system on the premises, and the subsequent arguments made by Giglio, we conclude that the district court abused its discretion in excluding this evidence. See NRS 48.025.