§ 1315 — Required capital investment

§ 1315. Required capital investment. 1. The board shall establish the\nminimum capital investment for a gaming facility by zone and region.\nSuch investment shall include, but not be limited to, a casino area, at\nleast one hotel and other amenities; and provided further, that the\nboard shall determine whether it will include the purchase or lease\nprice of the land where the gaming facility will be located or any\ninfrastructure designed to support the site including, but not limited\nto, drainage, utility support, roadways, interchanges, fill and soil or\ngroundwater or surface water contamination issues. The board may\nconsider private capital investment made previous to the effective date\nof this section, but may, in its discretion, discount a percentage of\nthe investment made. Upon award of a gaming license by the commission,\nthe applicant shall be required to deposit ten percent of the total\ninvestment proposed in the application into an interest-bearing account.\nMonies received from the applicant shall be held in escrow until the\nfinal stage of construction, as detailed in the timeline of construction\nsubmitted with the licensee's application and approved by the\ncommission, at which time the deposit plus interest earned shall be\nreturned to the applicant to be applied for the final stage. Should the\napplicant be unable to complete the gaming facility, the deposit shall\nbe forfeited to the state. In place of a cash deposit, the commission\nmay allow for an applicant to secure a deposit bond insuring that ten\npercent of the proposed capital investment shall be forfeited to the\nstate if the applicant is unable to complete the gaming facility.\n 2. Each applicant shall submit its proposed capital investment with\nits application to the board which shall include stages of construction\nof the gaming facility and the deadline by which the stages and overall\nconstruction and any infrastructure improvements will be completed. In\nawarding a license, the commission shall determine at what stage of\nconstruction a licensee shall be approved to open for gaming; provided,\nhowever, that a licensee shall not be approved to open for gaming until\nthe commission has determined that at least the gaming area and other\nancillary entertainment services and non-gaming amenities, as required\nby the board, have been built and are of a superior quality as set forth\nin the conditions of licensure. The commission shall not approve a\ngaming facility to open before the completion of the permanent casino\narea.\n 3. A licensee who fails to begin gaming operations within twenty-four\nmonths following license award shall be subject to suspension or\nrevocation of the gaming license by the commission and may, after being\nfound by the commission after notice and opportunity for a hearing to\nhave acted in bad faith in its application, be assessed a fine of up to\nfifty million dollars.\n 4. The board shall determine a licensing fee to be paid by a licensee\nwithin thirty days after the award of the license which shall be\ndeposited into the commercial gaming revenue fund. The license shall set\nforth the conditions to be satisfied by the licensee before the gaming\nfacility shall be opened to the public. The commission shall set any\nrenewal fee for such license based on the cost of fees associated with\nthe evaluation of a licensee under this article which shall be deposited\ninto the commercial gaming fund. Such renewal fee shall be exclusive of\nany subsequent licensing fees under this section.\n 5. The commission shall determine the sources and total amount of an\napplicant's proposed capitalization to develop, construct, maintain and\noperate a proposed gaming facility under this article. Upon award of a\ngaming license, the commission shall continue to assess the\ncapitalization of a licensee for the duration of construction of the\nproposed gaming facility and the term of the license.\n