SGC-32-16-00001-P Licensing and Registration of Gaming Facility Employees and Vendors

8/10/16 N.Y. St. Reg. SGC-32-16-00001-P

NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

VOLUME XXXVIII, ISSUE 32

August 10, 2016

RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES

NEW YORK STATE GAMING COMMISSION

PROPOSED RULE MAKING

NO HEARING(S) SCHEDULED

 

I.D No. SGC-32-16-00001-P

Licensing and Registration of Gaming Facility Employees and Vendors

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:

Proposed Action:

Amendment of Parts 5303 through 5307 of Title 9 NYCRR.

Statutory authority:

Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law, sections 104(19), 1307(1), (2), 1322, 1323, 1324, 1325, 1326 and 1327

Subject:

Licensing and registration of gaming facility employees and vendors.

Purpose:

To govern the licensing and registration of gaming facility employees and vendors.

Substance of proposed rule (Full text is posted at the following State website:www.gaming.ny.gov):

The proposed amendments to Parts 5303 through 5307 of Subtitle T of Title 9 NYCRR clarifies the licensing and registration process required by the New York Gaming Commission (“Commission”) for gaming facility employees and vendors.

Section 5303.9 clarifies the Commission’s expectations in regard to updating a submitted application. Section 5303.15 (renumbered as section 5303.14) specifies the process and circumstances under which an applicant who has been denied a license or registration, or a licensee or registrant whose license or registration has been revoked, may re-apply for a new license or registration. Section 5306.2(b) applies the statutory disqualification criteria to applicants for a non-gaming employee registration. Section 5306.4 sets the term for a non-gaming employee registration at five years, to match the statutory five-year duration for a casino key employee and gaming employee license. Section 5307.2 revises language to allow for more entities to be categorized as vendor registrants rather than ancillary casino vendor enterprises. Section 5307.3 designates groups of vendors who are not required to be licensed or registered. Section 5307.5 clarifies the forms required for licensing of casino vendor enterprises or ancillary casino vendor enterprises, the standards applicable to such licensing, the forms required for registration of employees of vendor registrants and the standards applicable to such employee registrants.

Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:

Kristen Buckley, New York State Gaming Commission, One Broadway Center, 6th Floor, Schenectady, NY 12305, [phone], email: [e-mail]

Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:

Same as above.

Public comment will be received until:

45 days after publication of this notice.

Regulatory Impact Statement

1. STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law (“Racing Law”) section 104(19) grants authority to the Gaming Commission (“Commission”) to promulgate rules and regulations that it deems necessary to carry out its responsibilities. Racing Law section 1307(1) grants rule making authority to the Commission to implement, administer and enforce the provisions of Racing Law Article 13.

Racing Law section 1307(2) prescribes that the Commission regulate, among other things: the methods and forms of application and registration that any applicant or registrant shall follow and complete; the methods, procedures, and form for delivery of information concerning any person’s family, habits, character, associates, criminal record, business activities and financial affairs; the procedures for the fingerprinting of an employee of a licensee, or registrant; the manner and method of collection of payments of fees; and the grounds and procedures for the revocation or suspension of licenses and registrations.

Racing Law section 1322 requires the Commission to regulate the form by which applicants, licensees and registrants provide information pertaining to their qualifications for licensure or registration.

Racing Law section 1323 requires the Commission to regulate the procedures for photographing and fingerprinting applicants, licensees and registrants for identification and investigation purposes.

Racing Law section 1324 requires the Commission to regulate the method and form of registration that a gaming employee shall follow and complete, and the form for delivery of information pertaining to a gaming employee’s qualifications for registration.

Racing Law section 1325 requires the Commission to establish by regulation appropriate fees to be paid upon the filing of the required applications.

Racing Law section 1326 requires the Commission to establish by regulation the time period during which a casino vendor may conduct business transactions with a gaming facility applicant or licensee prior to the casino vendor receiving a license. Racing Law section 1326 also requires the Commission to regulate the method and form of vendor registration.

Racing Law section 1327 requires the Commission to establish by regulation appropriate fees to be imposed on vendor registrants.

2. LEGISLATIVE OBJECTIVES: The above referenced statutory provisions carry out the legislature’s stated goal “to tightly and strictly” regulate casinos “to guarantee public confidence and trust in the credibility and integrity of all casino gambling in the state and to prevent organized crime from any involvement in the casino industry” as set forth in Racing Law section 1300(10).

3. NEEDS AND BENEFITS: The proposed amendments implement the above listed statutory directives regarding the establishment of licensing and registration requirements for gaming facility employees and vendors. The proposed amendments provide specificity with respect to updating information contained in their applications, specifying the process of reapplication after a denial or revocation of a license or registration, clarifying the categories of vendor licensing and designating groups of vendors who are not required to be licensed.

4. COSTS:

(a) Costs to the regulated parties for the implementation of and continuing compliance with these rules: There are no new or additional costs associated with the proposed amendments. The amendments seek to clarify the existing licensing and registration process and, in certain circumstances, exempt specific vendors from the licensing or registration process, reducing overall costs to the gaming facilities and the vendors.

(b) Costs to the regulating agency, the State, and local governments for the implementation of and continued administration of these rules: There are no new or additional costs associated with the proposed amendments. The amendments seek to clarify the existing process and, in certain cases, exempt specific vendors from the licensing or registration process, reducing overall costs to the division of the state police and the Commission. The proposed amendments will not impose any additional costs on local governments.

(c) The information, including the source or sources of such information, and methodology upon which the cost estimate is based: These proposed amendments are clarifying the process of licensing and registration of gaming facility employees and vendors. They impose no additional costs; no methods were used to determine the costs to the regulated parties or the Commission and the state.

5. LOCAL GOVERNMENT MANDATES: These proposed amendments do not impose any mandatory program, service, duty, or responsibility upon local government because the licensing and registration of gaming facility employees and vendors is strictly a matter of State law.

6. PAPERWORK: These proposed amendments are not expected to impose any significant paperwork requirements for gaming facility employees and vendor applicants other than the paperwork already required by the existing rules.

7. DUPLICATION: The proposed amendments do not duplicate, overlap or conflict with any existing State or federal requirements.

8. ALTERNATIVES: The Commission consulted stakeholders and reviewed other gambling jurisdiction best practices and regulations. Alternatives were discussed and considered with stakeholders and compared to other jurisdiction regulations. These included the type of information required to be updated from an employee or vendor application; the appropriate vendors to be exempt from the licensing or registration process; and the types of vendors to be properly classified as ancillary vendor enterprises.

9. FEDERAL STANDARDS: There are no federal standards applicable to the licensing or registration of gaming employees and vendors in New York. It is purely a matter of New York State law.

10. COMPLIANCE SCHEDULE: The Commission anticipates that affected parties will be able to achieve compliance with these proposed amendments upon adoption.

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

1. EFFECT OF RULE: These proposed amendments impact the licensure and registration of gaming facility employees and vendors. Small business vendors seeking to be licensed or registered will be impacted by these amendments. Local government will not be affected by these rules.

2. COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS: These proposed amendments require participating small business vendors to update their application with the Commission under specific circumstances.

3. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: No new or additional professional services are required in order to comply with these proposed amendments.

4. COMPLIANCE COSTS: These amendments impose no new or additional compliance costs upon the small business vendors.

5. ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL FEASIBILITY: These proposed amendments will not impose any technological costs on small businesses or local government.

6. MINIMIZING ADVERSE IMPACT: These proposed amendments do not impose adverse impacts on small businesses or local government.

7. SMALL BUSINESS AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATION: These proposed amendments are in response to comments received from industry stakeholders and affected parties. Small businesses and local governments will have an additional opportunity to submit comments regarding these amendments during the comment period of the rule making process.

8. FOR RULES THAT EITHER ESTABLISH OR MODIFY A VIOLATION OR PENALTIES ASSOCIATED WITH A VIOLATION: The Commission has an administrative hearing process in place, which provides for notice and an opportunity to be heard, for those licensed vendors that violate the rules associated with horse racing, lottery, video lottery and charitable gaming. The Commission anticipates a similar process applying to those licensed vendors that violate Article 13 of the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law and the related rules.

Rural Area Flexibility Analysis

Several of the development zone regions authorized to host a licensed gaming facility, as contemplated by Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law section 1310, are located within “rural areas” as that term is defined in Executive Law section 481(7). The decision to locate a licensed gaming facility in a rural area will not have an adverse economic impact. In addition, these proposed amendments will not have an adverse or disproportionate economic impact upon rural areas. Accordingly, a rural flexibility analysis is not required and one has not been prepared.

Job Impact Statement

1. NATURE OF IMPACT: The Commission has determined that the proposed amendments to these rules will not have a substantial adverse impact on jobs and employment opportunities. To the contrary, these rules are intended to create thousands of well-paying jobs. In addition, the amendments are intended to clarify the process for potential employees and vendors to obtain a license or registration from the Commission.

2. CATEGORIES AND NUMBERS AFFECTED: It is anticipated that up to 4 gaming facilities, as contemplated by Racing, Pari-Mutual Wagering and Breeding Law Article 13, would employ more than 4,000 people. In addition, the construction of the gaming facilities will generate many new jobs.

3. REGIONS OF ADVERSE IMPACT: The Commission does not anticipate regions of the state to suffer a disproportionate adverse impact in regards to jobs or employment opportunities.

4. MINIMIZING ADVERSE IMPACT: These amendments do not create any unnecessary adverse impact on existing jobs. A positive impact on jobs and employment is anticipated.