Laptop, calculator and notepad on a tidy desk, How to Open a Bar in Las Vegas and Nevada

How to Start a Bar or Brewery Business in Nevada

Last verified: November 5, 2026

The license to sell drinks at a bar comes from a city or county, not from the state. The Department of Taxation says Nevada has no Alcoholic Beverage Control Law and does not control retail outlets, and it sends would-be bar owners to the city or county where they want to locate, so the license you need is a city or county liquor license, and which one depends on where the address sits, not on the city in your mailing address. Breweries and brew pubs are the exception: they also need a state license and a federal filing, covered in Steps 4 and 5. If you are opening a restaurant that also pours alcohol, our restaurant guide covers the kitchen permits and plan review; this guide is for the liquor license.

Does Nevada Issue a State Liquor License for a Bar?

The Department of Taxation's liquor FAQ answers the question "I would like to open a bar in Nevada" directly: Nevada has no Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, the Department does not control retail outlets, and anyone opening a retail establishment should contact the city or county clerk or local law enforcement where they want to locate (Nevada Department of Taxation: liquor tax FAQs). The statutes say the same thing. Outside incorporated cities, a county liquor board (the county commissioners, plus the sheriff in counties under 700,000 people) grants or refuses liquor licenses, and in a county of 700,000 or more it refers each petition to the metropolitan police department for an investigation (NRS 244.350). Inside a city, the city regulates its own liquor dealers (NRS 268.090).

Our advice follows from that: the licensing office, not the state, decides whether your bar opens, so make it the first call, before the lease. Ask for a lease clause that lets you walk away, with your deposit, if the license is refused.

Step 1: Find Which Agency Licenses Your Address

Clark County, Nevada has six licensing jurisdictions, each with its own agency: Clark County itself, Henderson, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Mesquite. Clark County's own guide warns that a large part of the Las Vegas valley has a Las Vegas mailing address but sits in unincorporated Clark County, and it publishes a Clark County jurisdiction locator for exactly this check (Clark County Department of Business License: step-by-step guide). So "open a bar in Las Vegas" has two different answers depending on the parcel: the City of Las Vegas process in Step 3, or the unincorporated Clark County process. Run the locator on the exact address before you look at any lease.

Our local guides cover each agency: Las Vegas, unincorporated Clark County, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Reno. Elsewhere in Nevada, the same rule applies: the city if the address is inside one, otherwise the county.

Step 2: Form the Business Entity First

The liquor application and the background check are run on the applicant and its owners, so form the entity before you apply. An LLC costs $75 to file with the Secretary of State (NRS 86.561). The initial list ($150) and the State Business License ($200 for an LLC, $500 for a corporation) are due by the last day of the month after you file, and the same two fees renew every year (NRS 76.100; Secretary of State: State Business License FAQ, read through a Wayback snapshot of October 14, 2026). File through the Nevada ORION business portal, and check that your name is free in the Secretary of State business entity search. A name reservation costs $25 and holds the name for 90 days. Expedited filing costs extra; NRS 225.140 caps the fee at $125 for 24 hours, $500 for 2 hours and $1,000 for 1 hour. The statute itself (NRS 86.263(1) and NRS 76.100) calls for the initial list and the license at the time of filing, so filing them together with the articles is the safe course; confirm the current due date with the Secretary of State.

Every Nevada entity needs a registered agent with a physical Nevada address (NRS chapter 77). Our Nevada LLC guide walks through the filing, and compare LLC formation services in Nevada if you would rather hand it off.

Step 3: Apply for the Local Liquor License

This is the license that lets you pour. Fees, forms and rules come from the licensing agency, so the numbers below are the ones each agency published, with the date of its document.

City of Las Vegas

The city's alcohol license sheet (Form PL231, revised December 13, 2023) says every alcohol license requires a background check, counts as a license of privilege, and needs the business license application plus personal history and financial documents. It lists these fees:

License typeApplication feeLicense fee
Full Alcohol On-Premise (a standalone bar is listed here)$5,000$1,200 every six months; each additional bar $900 every six months
Beer/Wine On-Premise (beer, wine and coolers only)$5,000$700 every six months; each additional bar station $400 every six months
Brew Pub (Microbrewery)$5,000$1,200 every six months

An alcohol control plan is required for all three licenses. The sheet is dated December 2023, so confirm current amounts with the city's Business Licensing Division at [email protected] before you budget (City of Las Vegas: Alcohol Licenses General Information, Form PL231).

Unincorporated Clark County

Clark County's license category list treats liquor as a privileged business: applications are in person, fees vary by license type, and renewals are quarterly. Its retail categories include tavern and liquor store, and its brewery license (LIQ-151) is $250 per quarter (Clark County: list of license categories and fees). The license types themselves are defined in Clark County Code 8.20.020.015, alcoholic liquor license.

Reno and the Rest of Nevada

Reno treats a business that serves alcohol as a privileged business. You file an annual business license application and a privileged license application through its online portal, then take the personal history statement to the Reno Police Department for the background check. Fees vary by license, and the city asks you to call 775-334-2090 for yours (City of Reno: business licensing guide). We could not read the Henderson or North Las Vegas sites from our servers, so this page states no fees for them; use the local guides in Step 1 to reach their licensing offices.

What to Ask Before You Sign a Lease

  • Which agency licenses this exact address, and how long its background check and hearing take.
  • Whether the zoning office allows a bar on this parcel and what spacing rules apply to it. Spacing and zoning rules differ by jurisdiction, and we could not open the current Clark County tavern spacing text, so this page gives no distances.
  • What happens to the license if you sell the business or add an owner later.

Once licensed, a bar buys alcohol only from licensed Nevada wholesalers. The Department of Taxation's three-tier summary says retailers may not buy for resale from other retailers or directly from suppliers (Nevada Department of Taxation: liquor tax).

Step 4: Add the State Brewer or Brew Pub License if You Make Beer

Beer production is where the state does license you. The statutes draw a line that most guides blur: a brewery makes malt beverages but does not sell them at retail (NRS 369.013), and a brew pub makes malt beverages and sells them at retail (NRS 597.200). Manufacturers are also barred from retailing outside the brew pub exception (NRS 597.210). Our reading: if you want to pour pints in a taproom, you are opening a brew pub; a brewery sells to wholesalers. Confirm the license type with your licensing office before you sign a lease.

The sequence for either license is local first, then state. You apply to the city or county, the governing body approves or disapproves, and only an approved application goes to the Department of Taxation, which issues the license if no objections are known (NRS 369.190 and 369.200). The Department's liquor tax page hosts the liquor license application (form EXC-F065) and a surety bond acknowledgment form. What the statutes set:

  • License fee: $75 a year for a brewer's license and $75 a year for a brew pub license, due each July 1 (NRS 369.300 and 369.310). A license issued mid-year is charged for the part of the year it covers, never less than one quarter.
  • Bond: a brewer posts a bond for its excise taxes of at least $1,000 (NRS 369.350).
  • Excise tax: 16 cents per gallon of malt beverage, paid by the manufacturer (NRS 369.330), due by the 20th of the following month (Department of Taxation liquor general information sheet).
  • Brew pub location: a brew pub may operate only in a redevelopment area, a historic district, a retail liquor store, or another area the county or city has designated for brew pubs (NRS 597.230). Ask whether your address sits in one before you lease it.
  • Brew pub limits: sales at special events, for drinking on the premises and in packages together are capped at 5,000 barrels a year, with no more than 1,000 barrels in kegs; manufacturing is capped separately at 40,000 barrels (NRS 597.230).

Las Vegas lists a separate Liquor Manufacturer license ($5,000 application, $1,000 every six months) for production without a taproom, and unincorporated Clark County's brewery license is the $250 quarterly one above. A brew pub that also wants to sell other drinks needs the local retail license and must buy those drinks from licensed wholesalers (NRS 597.230).

Step 5: File the Federal Brewer's Notice if You Brew

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) requires anyone who brews beer for sale to qualify first by filing a Brewer's Notice. You can file it online through Permits Online, which TTB recommends, there is no federal fee, and brewers must have bond coverage before they begin brewing (TTB: Brewer's Notice). Label approval is a separate question. TTB says malt beverages sold only within the state need neither a certificate of label approval (COLA) nor a certificate of exemption, but a COLA is required once the beer is sold or shipped in interstate commerce (TTB: label approval basics). That matters in Nevada because a brew pub may sell up to 20,000 barrels a year to out-of-state buyers on top of its other limits (NRS 597.230).

A bar that only resells beer bought from a Nevada wholesaler is not brewing, so the Brewer's Notice does not apply to it.

Step 6: Decide on Gaming Before You Lease

Nevada defines a restricted gaming license as one for no more than 15 slot machines, and no other game, at an establishment where slots are incidental to the primary business (NRS 463.0189). Anything beyond that is a nonrestricted license (NRS 463.0177). The Gaming Control Board publishes the restricted license applications, including a bar and tavern floor plan example, on its forms and applications page.

The local rules can decide your floor space. The City of Las Vegas allows a full-alcohol on-premise bar with an approved Special Use Permit under Title 19 to apply for a restricted license for up to 15 slot machines if it has at least 2,500 square feet of patron space, a permanent physical bar, an on-premise kitchen open at least 12 hours, and at least 25 dining seats away from the bar. A narrower path allows up to five tabletop machines but requires 100 dining seats away from the bar and food at 55% of gross sales, with exceptions in the Arts District. The same sheet says no gaming is allowed on the Beer/Wine On-Premise and Brew Pub licenses (Form PL231, linked in Step 3). If slot machines are in your business plan, a small bar cannot meet the city's 2,500 square foot minimum, so settle this before the lease, not after.

Step 7: Hire Staff With Alcohol Education Cards

In counties of 100,000 people or more, such as Clark and Washoe, an owner or operator of an establishment may not hire anyone to sell or serve alcohol, or to work as a security guard there, unless the person already holds a valid alcohol education card or gets one within 30 days of hire. The card comes from a state-certified alcohol awareness program and is valid for four years. Violations are civil infractions with fines of $500, $1,000 and $5,000 for the first, second and third violation within 24 months (NRS 369.630). The Commission on Postsecondary Education keeps the approved alcohol awareness provider list. Smaller counties apply the rule only if the local governing body votes to be bound by it.

For payroll planning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 16,830 bartenders in Nevada in its 2025 estimates, with a mean annual wage of $36,210 and a median of $27,460. Food service managers numbered 4,310, with a mean of $77,540 and a median of $65,320 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: bartenders; food service managers). The mean for bartenders runs $8,750 above the median, so a minority of high earners pulls the average up; budget a payroll plan from the median.

Step 8: Health, Fire and Building Approvals

These come from separate offices and run alongside the liquor application. If you serve food, the health permit comes from the Southern Nevada Health District in Clark County or Northern Nevada Public Health in Washoe County. Fire and building approvals come from the city or county where the bar sits. We found no published timeline or fee that covers all of them, so ask each office for its own, and ask your licensing office whether it wants the approvals before or after the liquor hearing.

Taxes and Ongoing Costs

ItemAmountNotes
Articles of organization (LLC)$75One time (NRS 86.561)
Initial and annual list (LLC)$150Every year (NRS 86.263)
State Business License$200 for an LLC, $500 for a corporationEvery year; $100 penalty if late (Secretary of State FAQ)
Las Vegas full-alcohol license$5,000 application, then $1,200 every six monthsForm PL231, December 2023
Clark County brewery license$250 per quarterCounty category list; retail liquor fees vary by type
State brewer or brew pub license$75 per yearDue July 1 (NRS 369.300, 369.310)
Sales tax permit$15 per locationDepartment of Taxation
Modified Business Tax1.17% of quarterly wages over $50,000Employers file quarterly even if nothing is due

The Department of Taxation start-a-business page lists the $15 sales tax permit, and the Modified Business Tax page lists the wage tax. The Commerce Tax applies only if your Nevada gross revenue passes $4,000,000 in a fiscal year (Nevada Department of Taxation: Commerce Tax); see our Commerce Tax guide. A bar with employees also has workers' compensation duties.

No official source publishes build-out, inventory or liquor liability insurance costs for a Nevada bar, so this page gives none. Get written quotes for each, and ask your landlord, your lender and your licensing office whether any of them requires liquor liability coverage.

Where Bar and Brewery Plans Go Wrong

Leasing first. A lease signed before the jurisdiction, zoning and spacing checks leaves you paying rent on a space that may never be licensed.

Assuming a brewery can pour pints. Under the statutes above a taproom is a brew pub, with its own location, volume and gaming rules.

Treating the mailing city as the jurisdiction. A Las Vegas mailing address can sit in unincorporated Clark County, which is a different agency with different fees.

Planning slots after signing. The gaming conditions in Las Vegas set minimum patron space, a kitchen and seating, which a small space cannot meet.

Missing the July 1 state renewal. A brewer or brew pub that has not paid by July 15 can have the license cancelled, and by July 31 it is cancelled automatically (NRS 369.310).

What This Page Could Not Confirm

Henderson and North Las Vegas fees, the Clark County tavern spacing rule, and the current Las Vegas fee schedule after December 2023 could not be confirmed from the sources we can read, so none of them is stated above as current. Bar licensing is local, so for any real decision call the licensing office for your address and talk to a Nevada attorney who handles liquor licensing; for tax questions, a CPA.

Your next step is one call: give the licensing office the address you are considering and ask which license applies, what the background check involves, and how long the hearing takes.

Disclaimer

This article is informational only and does not constitute legal, tax, or business advice. Liquor licensing is set by each city and county and changes often. Consult a Nevada-licensed attorney and a CPA before forming your business or submitting a license application, and contact your city or county licensing office to confirm current requirements for your address and business model.

Sources

Checked on November 5, 2026. Fees from the City of Las Vegas come from a sheet it dated December 13, 2023.

Keep exploring: related Nevada guides