For Immediate Release ~ January 27, 2004

Washington, DC — The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) has adopted preliminary annual fee rates of 0.00 percent for tier 1 and 0.069 percent for tier 2 for calendar year 2004 which will be effective today. The announcement was published in the Federal Register on January 27, 2004.

"The 2004 budget allows us to improve our information system capabilities and fill positions that were vacant because of our budget concerns," commented NIGC Chairman Phil Hogen. "However, the fee rate is still less than one tenth of one percent of assessable gross gaming revenue."

The NIGC is entirely funded through annual fees collected from gaming operations under its jurisdiction. The agency bases fees on a percentage of all assessable gross revenue of each gaming operation under the agency's jurisdiction. Payments are submitted quarterly.

For more information, please contact Gary Pechota at (202) 632-7003.

The National Indian Gaming Commission is an independent regulatory agency established within the Department of the Interior pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988.

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