Can the state legally arrest me for a bad debt?

In the state of Nevada, you can be arrested for failure to pay a bad check or a casino debt. Under NRS 205.135 there is a presumption that you had the intent to defraud the other party unless you pay the money within 5 days of receiving notification that there are insufficient funds to cover the check or marker.

The current position on the Nevada Supreme Court is that markers will be treated like checks in criminal prosecution. As a result, there are a lot more casino marker cases when it comes to bad check cases. There are still people working on the constitutionality of the Nevada Supreme Court decision, but so far the position that markers are treated as checks in criminal cases is the law in Nevada.