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HOUSE BILL 241
57
TH LEGISLATURE
-
STATE
OF
NEW
MEXICO
-
FIRST SESSION
,
2025
INTRODUCED BY
Alan T. Martinez and Rebecca Dow and Art De La Cruz
and Joshua N. Hernandez
AN ACT
RELATING TO GAMING; AMENDING DEFINITIONS IN THE GAMING CONTROL
ACT TO INCLUDE "ALLOWABLE GAMING EXPENSES" AND "BALANCE OF NET
TAKE".
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 60-2E-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997,
Chapter 190, Section 5, as amended) is amended to read:
"60-2E-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Gaming Control
Act:
A. "affiliate" means a person who, directly or
indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is
controlled by or is under common control with a specified
person;
B. "affiliated company" means a company that:
(1) controls, is controlled by or is under
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common control with a company licensee; and
(2) is involved in gaming activities or
involved in the ownership of property on which gaming is
conducted;
C. "allowable gaming expenses" means the following
bona fide expenses in reasonable and customary amounts:
(1) purchase prices of non-cash prizes;
(2) security and surveillance expenses;
(3) independent accountant fees;
(4) license fees, including renewals and
gaming machine license fees;
(5) utilities attributed to the licensed
premises;
(6) installment payments to an independent
administrator or lease payments;
(7) gaming device repair and maintenance;
(8) gaming employees' salaries and employment
taxes;
(9) gaming supplies;
(10) approved management fees; and
(11) licensed premises repair and maintenance;
[C.] D. "applicant" means a person who has applied
for a license or for approval of an act or transaction for
which approval is required or allowed pursuant to the
provisions of the Gaming Control Act;
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[D.] E. "application" means a request for the
issuance of a license or for approval of an act or transaction
for which approval is required or allowed pursuant to the
provisions of the Gaming Control Act, but "application" does
not include a supplemental form or information that may be
required with the application;
[E.] F. "associated equipment" means equipment or a
mechanical, electromechanical or electronic contrivance,
component or machine used in connection with gaming activity;
G. "balance of net take" means the amount of net
take remaining after a gaming operation licensee pays the
gaming tax and other applicable taxes, income and allowable
gaming expenses;
[F.] H. "board" means the gaming control board;
[G.] I. "certification" means a notice of approval
by the board of a person required to be certified by the board;
[H.] J. "cheat" or "cheating" means to alter the
element of chance, the method of selection or other criteria in
a manner that determines:
(1) the result of the game;
(2) the amount or frequency of payment in a
game, including taking advantage of a malfunctioning machine;
(3) the value of a wagering instrument; or
(4) the value of a wagering credit;
[I.] K. "company" means a corporation, partnership,
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limited partnership, trust, association, joint stock company,
joint venture, limited liability company or other form of
business organization that is not a natural person; "company"
does not mean a nonprofit organization;
[J.] L. "distributor" means a person who supplies
gaming devices to a gaming operator but does not manufacture
gaming devices;
[K.] M. "equity security" means an interest in a
company that is evidenced by:
(1) voting stock or similar security;
(2) a security convertible into voting stock
or similar security, with or without consideration, or a
security carrying a warrant or right to subscribe to or
purchase voting stock or similar security;
(3) a warrant or right to subscribe to or
purchase voting stock or similar security; or
(4) a security having a direct or indirect
participation in the profits of the issuer;
[L.] N. "executive director" means the chief
administrative officer appointed by the board pursuant to
Section 60-2E-7 NMSA 1978;
[M.] O. "finding of suitability" means a
certification of approval issued by the board permitting a
person to be involved directly or indirectly with a licensee,
relating only to the specified involvement for which it is
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made;
[N.] P. "foreign institutional investor" means:
(1) a government-related pension plan of a
foreign government; or
(2) a person that meets the requirement of a
qualified institutional buyer as defined by the governing
financial regulatory agency of the foreign country in which the
company's primary operations are located and is registered or
licensed in that country as a bank, an insurance company, an
investment company, an investment advisor, a collective trust
fund, an employee benefit plan or pension fund sponsored by a
publicly traded corporation registered with the board or a
group composed entirely of entities specified in this
subsection;
[O.] Q. "game" means an activity in which, upon
payment of consideration, a player receives a prize or other
thing of value, the award of which is determined by chance even
though accompanied by some skill; "game" does not include an
activity played in a private residence in which no person makes
money for operating the activity except through winnings as a
player;
[P.] R. "gaming" means offering a game for play;
[Q.] S. "gaming activity" means an endeavor
associated with the manufacture or distribution of gaming
devices or the conduct of gaming;
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[R.] T. "gaming device" means associated equipment
or a gaming machine and includes a system for processing
information that can alter the normal criteria of random
selection that affects the operation of a game or determines
the outcome of a game;
[S.] U. "gaming employee" means a person connected
directly with a gaming activity; "gaming employee" does not
include:
(1) bartenders, cocktail servers or other
persons engaged solely in preparing or serving food or
beverages;
(2) secretarial or janitorial personnel;
(3) stage, sound and light technicians; or
(4) other nongaming personnel;
[T.] V. "gaming establishment" means the premises
on or in which gaming is conducted;
[U.] W. "gaming machine" means a mechanical,
electromechanical or electronic contrivance or machine that,
upon insertion of a coin, token or similar object, or upon
payment of any consideration, is available to play or operate a
game, whether the payoff is made automatically from the machine
or in any other manner;
[V.] X. "gaming operator" means a person who
conducts gaming;
[W.] Y. "holding company" means a company that
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directly or indirectly owns or has the power or right to
control a company that is an applicant or licensee, but a
company that does not have a beneficial ownership of more than
ten percent of the equity securities of a publicly traded
corporation is not a holding company;
[X.] Z. "immediate family" means natural persons
who are related to a specified natural person by affinity or
consanguinity in the first through the third degree;
[Y.] AA. "independent administrator" means a person
who administers an annuity, who is not associated in any manner
with the gaming operator licensee for which the annuity was
purchased and is in no way associated with the person who will
be receiving the annuity;
[Z.] BB. "institutional investor" means:
(1) a foreign institutional investor;
(2) a state or federal government pension
plan; or
(3) a person that meets the requirements of a
qualified institutional buyer as defined in Rule 144A of the
federal Securities Act of 1933, and is:
(a) a bank as defined in Section 3(a)(6)
of the federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934;
(b) an insurance company as defined in
Section 2(a)(17) of the federal Investment Company Act of 1940;
(c) an investment company registered
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under Section 8 of the federal Investment Company Act of 1940;
(d) an investment adviser registered
under Section 203 of the federal Investment Advisers Act of
1940;
(e) collective trust funds as defined in
Section 3(c)(11) of the federal Investment Company Act of 1940;
(f) an employee benefit plan or pension
fund that is subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974, excluding an employee benefit plan or
pension fund sponsored by a publicly traded corporation
registered with the board; or
(g) a group comprised entirely of
persons specified in Subparagraphs (a) through (f) of this
paragraph;
[AA.] CC. "intermediary company" means a company
that:
(1) is a holding company with respect to a
company that is an applicant or licensee; and
(2) is a subsidiary with respect to any
holding company;
[BB.] DD. "key executive" means an executive of a
licensee or other person having the power to exercise
significant influence over decisions concerning any part of the
licensed operations of the licensee or whose compensation
exceeds an amount established by the board in a rule;
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[CC.] EE. "license" means an authorization required
by the board for engaging in gaming activities;
[DD.] FF. "licensee" means a person to whom a valid
license has been issued;
[EE.] GG. "manufacturer" means a person who
manufactures, fabricates, assembles, produces, programs or
makes modifications to any gaming device for use or play in New
Mexico or for sale, lease or distribution outside New Mexico
from any location within New Mexico;
[FF.] HH. "net take" means the total of the
following, less the total of all cash paid out as losses to
winning patrons and those amounts paid to purchase annuities to
fund losses paid to winning patrons over several years by
independent administrators:
(1) cash received from patrons for playing a
game;
(2) cash received in payment for credit
extended by a licensee to a patron for playing a game; and
(3) compensation received for conducting a
game in which the licensee is not a party to a wager;
[GG.] II. "nonprofit organization" means:
(1) a bona fide chartered or incorporated
branch, lodge, order or association, in existence in New Mexico
prior to January 1, 1997, of a fraternal organization that is
described in Section 501(c)(8) or (10) of the federal Internal
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Revenue Code of 1986 and that is exempt from federal income
taxation pursuant to Section 501(a) of that code; or
(2) a bona fide chartered or incorporated
post, auxiliary unit or society of, or a trust or foundation
for the post or auxiliary unit, in existence in New Mexico
prior to January 1, 1997, of a veterans' organization that is
described in Section 501(c)(19) or (23) of the federal Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 and that is exempt from federal income
taxation pursuant to Section 501(a) of that code;
[HH.] JJ. "person" means a legal entity;
[II.] KK. "premises" means land, together with all
buildings, improvements and personal property located on the
land;
[JJ.] LL. "progressive jackpot" means a prize that
increases over time or as gaming machines that are linked to a
progressive system are played and upon conditions established
by the board may be paid by an annuity;
[KK.] MM. "public post-secondary educational
institution" means an institution designated in Article 12,
Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico or an institution
designated in Chapter 21, Article 13, 14 or 16 NMSA 1978;
[LL.] NN. "progressive system" means one or more
gaming machines linked to one or more common progressive
jackpots;
[MM.] OO. "publicly traded corporation" means a
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corporation that:
(1) has one or more classes of securities
registered pursuant to the securities laws of the United States
or New Mexico;
(2) is an issuer subject to the securities
laws of the United States or New Mexico; or
(3) has one or more classes of securities
registered or is an issuer pursuant to applicable foreign laws
that, the board finds, provide protection for institutional
investors that is comparable to or greater than the stricter of
the securities laws of the United States or New Mexico;
[NN.] PP. "registration" means a board action that
authorizes a company to be a holding company with respect to a
company that holds or applies for a license or that relates to
other persons required to be registered pursuant to the Gaming
Control Act;
[OO.] QQ. "subsidiary" means a company, all or a
part of whose outstanding equity securities are owned, subject
to a power or right of control or held, with power to vote, by
a holding company or intermediary company;
[PP.] RR. "technician" means a person approved by
the board to repair and service gaming devices or associated
equipment but who is prohibited from programming gaming
devices; and
[QQ.] SS. "work permit" means a card, certificate
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or permit issued by the board, whether denominated as a work
permit, registration card or otherwise, authorizing the
employment of the holder as a gaming employee."
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