For Immediate Release
Contact: Shawn Pensoneau
(202) 632-7003
NIGC Updates Regulations
Washington, DC January 6, 2009 —The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) recently proposed amendments to various of its regulations. The proposed rule, published December 22, 2008, in the Federal Register, makes minor changes to several existing regulations.
The proposed rule is intended to streamline procedures and update NIGC’s regulations. The rule would, for example, reduce from four to two the number of times per year tribes must submit fee payments, allow for the submission of consolidated audit statements for gaming operations that have multiple facilities, and allow for shorter audit statements when operations gross less than $1 million.
The proposed rule would also update regulations to reflect existing practices, such as allowing the licensing of more positions as “key employees” and “primary management officials” than the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act requires. Increasing the fee paid for background investigations to reflect NIGC’s increased costs and eliminating references to the defunct practice of approval by the Secretary of the Interior would bring NIGC’s management contract regulations up to date.
The Commission welcomes all comments on the proposed regulations. The comment period closes February 5, 2009.
The NIGC is an independent regulatory agency established within the Department of the Interior pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988.
###