To: IGA Member Tribes From: Ernest L. Stevens, Jr., Chairman Jason C. Giles, Executive Director Re: NIGC Publishes Two Final Rules to Amending Regulations Date: September 22, 2022
On September 21, 2022, the National Indian Gaming Commission (“NIGC”) published two final rules in the Federal Register amending its regulations governing 1) audit standards in 25 C.F.R. Part 571, and 2) the submission of gaming ordinances or resolutions for the Chair’s approval in 25 C.F.R. Part 522. Both of these final rules were subjects of the NIGC’s Tribal Consultation Series B, which ran from September 13 to November 1, 2021, and both were introduced as proposed rules in the Federal Register within the past year. The amendments to these regulatory provisions will become effective on October 21, 2022. As for the amendments to the regulations concerning audit standards in 25 C.F.R. Part 571, the NIGC is now permitting all gaming operations grossing less than $2 million in the previous fiscal year to submit reviewed financial statements to the NIGC, rather than audited financial statements, so long as certain conditions are met. Previously, the NIGC would have to affirmatively grant a tribal government a waiver to submit reviewed financial statements. Moreover, the amendments create a third tier of financial reporting for charitable gaming operations with annual gross revenues of $50,000 or less where, if permitted by a tribal government, a charitable gaming operation can submit financial information on a monthly basis to the tribal government or TGRA, and the TGRA provides an annual certification to the NIGC regarding the gaming operation’s compliance with financial reporting requirements. Lastly, these amendments clarify that the submission of an auditor’s adverse opinion will not satisfy the regulation’s reporting requirements. The NIGC is also amending the process for submitting a gaming ordinance, resolution, or gaming ordinance amendment for the Chair’s approval in Part 522 in an effort to ensure that these regulations meet the needs of an evolving tribal gaming industry. Among other amendments to this Part, the NIGC will no longer require the submission of a physical copy of the gaming ordinance, and instead, ordinances and amendments can be submitted in electronic or physical form. This rule also clarifies that the 90-day deadline for the NIGC Chair’s decision to approve an ordinance begins when the NIGC has received a complete submission. Here, the NIGC also eliminates the requirement that a tribal government submit a copy of its gaming regulations with its submission, and instead, tribal governments will only be required to submit these regulations upon request. Lastly, the NIGC has eliminated the regulatory requirement that the Chair publish a tribe’s entire gaming ordinance or amendment in the Federal Register upon the Chair’s approval, and instead, a notice of the approval will be sufficient.
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