Nevada Alcohol Awareness Card: Who Needs One and How to Get It

Quick answer: If you sell or serve alcohol, or work security, at a bar, restaurant, or casino in Clark County (Las Vegas) or Washoe County (Reno), you need a Nevada alcohol education card, the card most people call an alcohol awareness card or "TAM card." In Clark County, store clerks who sell alcohol need one too. State law gives you 30 days from your hire date (NRS 369.630). You take a course from a provider approved by the Commission on Postsecondary Education (CPE), online or in a classroom, then pass the exam in person. The course can't cost more than $40, and the card lasts 4 years.

This guide covers who needs the card and where, how to get it, the other cards Las Vegas bar and restaurant workers carry, and the Nevada alcohol laws the course tests you on. It's a general guide, not legal advice. When in doubt, check with the CPE or your employer.

What the Card Is

Nevada law calls it an alcohol education card: proof that you passed an alcoholic beverage awareness program certified by the Commission on Postsecondary Education (NRS 369.600 to 369.635). Many people call it a "TAM card." TAM of Nevada is one of the approved providers, but a card from any provider on the CPE's list counts the same.

The CPE, part of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, sets the curriculum and approves each program. It doesn't hand out the cards itself: your provider issues yours when you pass. The card must be honored everywhere in Nevada the rule applies (NRS 369.625), so a card from a Las Vegas class works in Reno too.

The alcohol card is separate from the food handler card, and most Las Vegas bartenders and servers need both. See our Nevada Food Handler Card: How the Rules Work in Las Vegas, Reno, and Carson City for the food side.

Who Needs One and When

Under NRS 369.630, a covered business can't employ anyone to sell or serve alcoholic beverages or to work as a security guard unless they already hold a valid card or get one within 30 days after their hire date. That takes in bartenders, servers and cashiers who sell or serve alcohol, and security staff.

Covered businesses are any that sell drinks for customers to drink on site, such as bars, restaurants, casinos, and hotels. In Clark County, stores that sell sealed alcohol to go, such as liquor, grocery, and convenience stores, are covered too (NRS 369.620). Wholesalers and private clubs that aren't open to the public are not.

The 30 days is the state rule. Clark County's code says covered workers must have the card in their possession (CCC 8.20.055), and many Las Vegas employers want it before your first shift, so getting it early makes you easier to hire.

Where the Rule Applies

The state requirement applies only in counties of 100,000 people or more, and in smaller cities or counties that vote to opt in (NRS 369.630). Today that means two counties:

• Clark County: Las Vegas, the Strip, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City, Mesquite, and Laughlin. Stores that sell sealed alcohol to go are covered here because Clark County has more than 700,000 people.
• Washoe County: Reno, Sparks, and Incline Village. Washoe's own code also requires the card, within 30 days of hire, for anyone a liquor licensee employs to sell or serve alcohol (WCC 30.227).

CPE staff told the Commission in May 2025: "Currently the ABA cards are only required in Clark and Washoe counties." Elsewhere in Nevada, including Carson City and Elko, state law doesn't require the card, though an employer still can.

How to Get Your Card

Step 1: Pick a CPE-approved provider

Only programs on the CPE's approved provider list count. The list published in February 2026 has more than two dozen providers, from TAM of Nevada and the Nevada Restaurant Association to in-house programs at some employers and the bartenders' union. Check the list before you pay: a course that isn't on it won't get you a valid card, even if it's sold as a Nevada course. Ask your employer first, since some run or pay for the class.

Step 2: Take the course

By law, the course runs at least 2 hours (NRS 369.625). The CPE's regulation lists six subjects that add up to three and a half hours (NAC 394.715). You can take it in a classroom or online; the law allows courses over the Internet.

Step 3: Pass the exam in person

The final exam is closed book and covers every subject. You need 75% in each subject, not just overall (NAC 394.730). Even after an online course, the CPE requires the exam to be proctored in person at a location it approves, so check where your provider tests before you sign up. Warm up with our free Nevada Alcohol Awareness Practice Test.

Step 4: Get your card and carry it

Your provider issues a plastic card with your name, the provider's name, a unique ID number, and the issue and expiration dates (NAC 394.730). An approved program can't charge more than $40 to complete (NRS 369.625). Carry the card at work: Clark County's code requires covered workers to have it in their possession.

What the Course Covers

Every approved course has to teach these six subjects (NAC 394.715), and the final exam tests each one:

• How alcohol affects the body (one hour).
• Spotting intoxicated persons (30 minutes).
• Cutting off service to intoxicated persons (30 minutes).
• State and local alcohol laws (30 minutes).
• Preventing and stopping fights and other disturbances (30 minutes).
• Minors: keeping them out of bars, spotting fake IDs, and not selling or giving them alcohol (30 minutes).

The rest of this guide walks through each one.

Other Cards You May Need

The alcohol card is rarely the only card. Depending on where you work, you may also need:

• An SNHD food handler card (all of Clark County). The Southern Nevada Health District requires a food handler card for nearly everyone who works in a food establishment, before they start, and its rules count ice and drinks as food. So bartenders and servers need one. It costs $25, takes an in-person test, and lasts three years; see our Nevada Food Handler Card: How the Rules Work in Las Vegas, Reno, and Carson City.
• A work card (City of Las Vegas). Anyone who pours drinks or works as a bartender, plus managers, supervisors, and security staff, needs a work card for alcoholic beverages (LVMC 6.50.440). Staff registered as gaming employees at the casino where they work are exempt. Work cards last five years.
• A work card (unincorporated Clark County, including the Strip). Clark County's liquor code requires a work identification card for bartenders who aren't registered gaming employees, carried at work (CCC 8.24.020).
• A work permit (unincorporated Washoe County). Anyone a liquor licensee employs to sell or serve alcohol needs a work permit, good for five years (WCC 30.330). The City of Reno doesn't require work cards for bartenders.

Henderson and North Las Vegas set their own rules, so ask your employer which cards your job needs.

Minors and Checking IDs

Nevada's drinking age is 21 (NRS 202.020). Someone under 21 who buys or drinks alcohol anywhere liquor is sold commits a misdemeanor, and so does anyone who knowingly sells, gives, or furnishes alcohol to them (NRS 202.055), with up to 6 months in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both (NRS 193.150). A parent's OK doesn't make it legal for you to serve their teenager.

Your protection is the ID check. If you asked for and were shown government-issued ID, such as a driver's license, state ID card, passport, or military ID, immediately before serving, that's a defense if the customer turns out to be under 21 (NRS 205.460). So check ID whenever there's any doubt, before the drink is poured. Compare the photo to the face, do the birth date math, check the expiration date, and feel the card for peeling or raised edges.

Fake IDs are crimes for everyone involved (NRS 205.460):

• Someone under 21 who uses or tries to use a fake ID to buy alcohol commits a misdemeanor.
• Selling, lending, or giving a fake ID to someone under 21 is a gross misdemeanor.
• Making or altering an ID so someone under 21 can buy alcohol is a misdemeanor.

Minors in bars. People under 21 may not loiter or stay in a saloon. The minor can be fined up to $500 (NRS 202.030), and so can a manager who knowingly allows it (NRS 202.060). Restaurants that serve alcohol only with regular meals, at tables or booths separate from the bar, are an exception, as are grocery and drug stores that don't sell drinks by the glass.

How old you must be to serve. Nevada leaves this to cities and counties. In the City of Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County, employees who sell or handle alcohol must be 21 (LVMC 6.50.490; CCC 8.20.360). In Las Vegas, workers 16 and older may stock sealed beer, wine, and coolers under supervision and clear used drink glasses from tables. Henderson and North Las Vegas let supervised 18-year-olds sell sealed alcohol in grocery and similar stores, and Washoe County lets supervised 16-year-olds sell sealed liquor in grocery stores.

Spotting Intoxication and Cutting Off Service

Selling or serving alcohol to an intoxicated person is unlawful under the Clark County, Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas codes (CCC 8.20.300; LVMC 6.50.450; HMC 4.36.330; NLVMC 5.26.300). The signs usually show up in this order:

• Lowered inhibitions: getting louder, overly friendly, or more talkative than before.
• Impaired judgment: buying rounds for strangers, being careless with money, drinking faster, or making rude comments.
• Slowed reactions: slurred or slow speech, glassy eyes, losing track of the conversation.
• Lost coordination: stumbling, swaying, spilling drinks, fumbling with money.

Count drinks as well as watching behavior. Regulars can hide the signs, but tolerance doesn't lower their blood alcohol content (BAC).

When it's time to stop serving someone:

1. Bring in your manager before you act, if you can.
2. Tell the customer privately and politely, and make it about the rule, not the person: "I'm sorry, I can't serve you any more alcohol tonight." Don't accuse, argue, or bargain over "one more."
3. Offer water, food, or a nonalcoholic drink.
4. Help arrange a safe ride: a taxi, rideshare, or sober friend. If they insist on driving, your manager can call the police.
5. Tell the rest of the staff so no one else serves them, and note it in the incident log if your workplace keeps one.

How Alcohol Affects the Body

• One standard drink has about 0.6 ounces of pure alcohol: 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. A strong craft beer, a big pour of wine, or a cocktail with several shots can hold two or more.
• Most alcohol is absorbed through the small intestine, and some through the stomach. Food slows absorption; carbonated mixers and an empty stomach speed it up.
• The liver clears about one standard drink an hour on average. Drinks served faster than that build up in the blood.
• Only time sobers someone up. Coffee, cold showers, and fresh air don't lower BAC.
• BAC rises faster in people who weigh less, drink on an empty stomach, or drink quickly, and women typically reach a higher BAC than men of the same weight. BAC can keep rising for a while after the last drink.
• Alcohol is a depressant. It slows the brain, so judgment goes first, then reaction time and coordination.

Free pouring makes it easy to put two drinks' worth of alcohol in one glass. Bartenders who measure every pour keep each drink at one standard drink:

The 1.5-ounce side is exactly one standard drink of 80-proof spirits, and the 1-ounce side handles smaller measures.

Preventing Fights

The course has to cover preventing and stopping fights and other disturbances (NRS 369.625). The basics:

• Watch for warning signs: raised voices, threats, staring, someone squaring up to another person, or a group egging two people on.
• Act early, while it's still words. Bring in a manager or security, stop serving alcohol to the people involved, and offer food or water.
• Don't step in physically. Keep a safe distance, and leave hands-on work to trained security and the police.
• Call 911 if anyone is hurt or a weapon appears, and help keep other guests back.
• Write it down afterward: what happened, when, and who was involved.

Other Nevada Laws Servers Should Know

• DUI: 0.08 BAC for drivers 21 and older (NRS 484C.110). Drivers under 21 lose their license for 90 days at 0.02 (NRS 483.461).
• Open containers in vehicles: an open container in a vehicle's passenger area on a highway is a misdemeanor, except in limos, party buses, and other vehicles for hire (NRS 484B.150).
• Open containers on foot: set by local codes. In unincorporated Clark County, drinking from or carrying an open container is unlawful in any parking lot, at the store where it was bought, and within 1,000 feet of that store, except on residential property (CCC 12.35.010). On the Strip, pedestrians may not carry a glass beverage container at any time unless it's sealed in a package (CCC 12.43.025).
• Hours of sale: set by each county and city, not the state (NRS 244.350; NRS 268.090). Washoe County's code allows sales 24 hours a day.
• No serving while intoxicated: in Las Vegas it's unlawful for an intoxicated person to sell or serve alcohol (LVMC 6.50.480), and Clark County bars licensees' staff from being intoxicated on duty at a tavern (CCC 8.20.380).
• Lawsuits: Nevada generally doesn't let people sue a business over what an adult customer did after drinking there (NRS 41.1305). That doesn't make overserving legal: the local codes above still ban it, and the business's liquor license is at stake.

Penalties

Under state law, working without a card is the business's violation, not yours. The owner or operator gets a civil infraction, with fines of $500 for the first violation within 24 months, $1,000 for the second, and $5,000 for each one after that, and the notice can come from any peace officer (NRS 369.630). A county or city can also deny or refuse to renew the liquor license of a business that willfully breaks the rule more than three times in 24 months (NRS 244.350; NRS 268.090).

Other violations fall on you personally. Selling or giving alcohol to someone under 21 is a misdemeanor (NRS 202.055), and breaking Clark County's liquor code, such as by serving an intoxicated customer, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 6 months in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both (CCC 8.20.590).

How Long It Lasts

Your card is valid for 4 years from the date it's issued (NRS 369.625), and the expiration date is printed on it. There's no renewal form or fee: before it expires, you take an approved course and pass the exam again, and the new card starts a new four-year term. That's why the CPE's list calls the cards non-renewable. Our expiration calculator works out the date and adds a reminder to your calendar.

Lost your card? Each approved provider keeps a list of the people it issued cards to (NAC 394.730), so contact the provider that trained you about a replacement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a TAM card the same as a Nevada alcohol awareness card?

Yes. Nevada law calls it an alcohol education card, and people also call it an alcohol awareness card or a TAM card. TAM of Nevada is one approved provider; a card from any provider on the CPE's list is the same card.

How long do I have to get an alcohol card in Las Vegas?

State law gives you 30 days from your hire date. Clark County's code says covered workers must have the card in their possession, and many Las Vegas employers ask for it before your first shift.

Can I get a Nevada alcohol awareness card online?

You can take the course online, but the CPE requires the final exam to be taken in person with a proctor, at a location it approves. Check where your provider tests before you sign up.

How much does a Nevada alcohol awareness card cost?

No more than $40. State law caps what an approved program can charge to complete (NRS 369.625). Prices vary by provider, and some employers pay.

Do I need the card outside Las Vegas and Reno?

State law requires it only in Clark and Washoe counties, which includes Henderson, North Las Vegas, Sparks, and Incline Village. Elsewhere, such as Carson City or Elko, the state doesn't require it, but an employer can.

Does an alcohol server certificate from another state count in Nevada?

No. The card has to come from a program on the CPE's approved list (NRS 369.630), and that list is specific to Nevada. A certificate from another state's program, such as Texas TABC or a Washington MAST permit, doesn't count.

Do Las Vegas bartenders also need a food handler card?

Yes, in nearly every case. The Southern Nevada Health District requires its food handler card before you start work in a food establishment, and its rules count ice and drinks as food. In the City of Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County, bartenders may also need a work card.

Bottom Line

If you sell or serve alcohol, or work security, in Clark or Washoe County, get your alcohol education card from a CPE-approved provider within 30 days of hire, and sooner if your employer asks. You can take the course online, but you'll pass the exam in person, with 75% in each subject. Carry the card, and retake the course before it expires in four years. Learn the rules the exam is built on: 21 to drink, check government ID before you serve, no alcohol for intoxicated customers, and cut off service politely and early. Then check yourself with our Nevada Alcohol Awareness Practice Test.

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