Agenda - Council - 06/24/1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASE # REVIEW PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE LAWFUL GAMBLING ORDINANCE By: Jessie L. Hart, Finance Officer Background: For the past several months Councilmembers Beyer and Zimmerman and myself have been working on revisions to the section of the City Code that deals with the regulation and administration of lawful gambling in the City of R~m~ey. Attached h~reto is the draft ordinance for discussion purposes at tonights meeting. The objective of the rewisions was to establish policies and procedures that made it easier for both the City to regulate and the various non-profit organizations to comply with and to establish a "regular" cash flow for the City. We have structured the ~mendments to hopefully achieve these objectives. Some of the amendments consisted of "housekeeping" type revisions such as changing "charitable" to "lawful" and changing all references to "licenses" to "premises permits." The major changes that impact the way the City administers lawful gambling and compliance by outside organizations are as follows: 7.61.05 Conditions This section originally contained item c which imposed a llrn~t on the number of locations any one organization could operate in the City of R~msey. This item has been eliminated, thus, with City approval on premises permits, an organization which meets all other stipulations in this Code section can operate unlimited sites in the City. A new item c has been added which limits the maximum number of gambling devises (ie: puli-tabs; tip-boards; or paddlewheels) at any one loca'tion to two of any one device. 7.61.09 Use of Lawful Gambling Net Profits This section stipulates the ~mount of and basis for computing the required contribution to the City based on net profits. The original percentage was 10% (maximum allowed by the Statutes) of net profits which is defined as profits less arnour~ts expended for allowable expenses. Organizations operating in the City were allowed to deduct taxes (combined receipts; federal wagering; distributors taxes; etc) in determining net profits even though they are not defined as allowable expenses. In addition, if a net loss occurred after the deduction of these taxes, the net loss was allowed to be carried forward to offset future net profits in a given permit year. The proposed amendments to this section are to eliminate any direct reference to a particular percentage, but rather indicate that a percentage will be established by Council resolution. We have also changed the wording to indicate that taxes will no longer be al_lowed as deductions when determining net profits, nor will any net losses (which will occur very infrequently under this method) be carried forward at any time. These changes as presented were rev/ewed with the Gambling Control Board by Bill Goodrich and myself. The Board indicated that the manner in which we propose to regulate lawful gambling and collect a percentage of net profits are acceptable methods under State Statutes. I I I I I I I I I I ! I I I I I I