Bill Text: PA HB873 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Further providing for regulatory authority, for other financial institutions, for wagering on credit and for prohibitions.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 16)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-01 - Referred to GAMING OVERSIGHT [HB873 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2011-HB873-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 911
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 873 Session of2011
INTRODUCED BY CLYMER, BAKER, BOYD, COX, CREIGHTON, DENLINGER, FLECK, GINGRICH, HESS, HUTCHINSON, KAUFFMAN, MURT, ROCK, SCHRODER, STERN AND TALLMAN, MARCH 1, 2011
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON GAMING OVERSIGHT, MARCH 1, 2011
AN ACT
Amending Title 4 (Amusements) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
Statutes, further providing for regulatory authority, for
other financial institutions, for wagering on credit and for
prohibitions.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 13A02(9), 13A27, 1504 and 1611 of Title
4 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, amended or added
January 7, 2010 (P.L.1, No.1), are amended to read:
§ 13A02. Regulatory authority.
The board shall promulgate regulations:
* * *
[(9) Establishing minimum standards relating to the
extension of credit to a player by a certificate holder.
Prior to extending credit, the certificate holder shall
consider an individual's financial fitness, including annual
income, debt-to-income ratio, prior credit history, average
monthly bank balance or level of play.]
[§ 13A27. Other financial transactions.
(a) Credit.--Notwithstanding section 1504 (relating to
wagering on credit), a certificate holder may extend interest-
free, unsecured credit to patrons for the purpose of playing
slot machines or table games in accordance with this section;
however, a certificate holder shall not accept credit cards,
charge cards or debit cards from a patron or player for the
exchange or purchase or chips, slot machine or table game
credits or for an advance of coins or currency to be utilized by
a player to play slot machine or table games. No credit card
advance machine may be placed on the gaming floor.
(b) Credit applications.-–Each application for credit
submitted by a patron to a certificate holder shall be
maintained in a confidential credit file. The application shall
include the patron's name, address, telephone number and
comprehensive bank account information, the requested credit
limit, the patron's approximate amount of current indebtedness,
the amount and source of income in support of the application,
the patron's signature on the application, a certification of
truthfulness and any other information deemed relevant by the
certificate holder. The certificate holder shall notify each
applicant that, as a condition of receiving credit, the
certificate holder will verify identity and indebtedness
information through a credit bureau or casino credit bureau and,
if appropriate, through direct contact with other slot machine
licensees.
(c) Credit application verification.-–Prior to approving an
application for credit, a certificate holder shall verify:
(1) The identity, creditworthiness and indebtedness
information of the applicant by conducting a comprehensive
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review of the information submitted with the application and
any information regarding the applicant's credit activity at
other licensed facilities which the certificate holder may
obtain through a casino credit bureau and, if appropriate,
through direct contact with other slot machine licensees.
(2) That the applicant's name is not included on an
exclusion list under section 1514 (relating to regulation
requiring exclusion or ejection of certain persons) or 1516
(relating to list of persons self excluded from gaming
activities) or the voluntary credit suspension list under
subsection (h).
(d) Establishment of credit.-–Upon completion of the
verification required under subsection (c), a certificate holder
may grant a patron credit. The certificate holder shall
establish a credit limit for each patron to whom the certificate
holder grants credit. Each applicant's credit limit shall be
approved by two or more employees of the certificate holder
holding the job positions of credit manager, assistant credit
manager, credit shift manager, credit executive or a key
employee in a direct reporting line above the manager or credit
manager. The approval shall be recorded in the applicant's
credit file and shall include the reasons and information relied
on for the approval of credit and verification by the employees
approving the applicant's credit limit. Increases to an
individual's credit limit may be approved following a written
request from the individual and reverification of an
individual's credit information.
(e) Recordkeeping.-–Detailed information pertaining to all
transactions affecting an individual's outstanding indebtedness
to a certificate holder shall be recorded in chronological order
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in the individual's credit file.
(f) Reduction or suspension of credit.-–A certificate holder
may reduce an individual's credit limit or suspend credit to an
individual for any reason.
(g) Voluntary credit suspension.--An individual may request
a certificate holder to suspend the individual's credit. Each
certificate holder shall inform the board when an individual
requests a suspension of credit and shall provide the board with
all information necessary to maintain the voluntary credit
suspension list under subsection (h).
(h) Voluntary credit suspension list.--The board shall
maintain a voluntary credit suspension list of all individuals
who have requested suspension of credit privileges and shall
provide the list on a continuous basis to the credit department
of each certificate holder. An individual may request placement
on the voluntary credit suspension list by submitting to the
board the individual's name, address and date of birth. The
individual does not need to provide a reason for the request.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the
board's list of individuals who have had credit privileges
voluntarily suspended shall be confidential, and neither the
board nor the credit department of a certificate holder shall
divulge the name of any individual on this list to any person or
entity other than those provided for in this subsection. To be
removed from the list, the individual shall submit a request to
the board. The board shall remove the individual from the list
and inform the credit department of each certificate holder not
later than three business days after the board's receipt of the
request.
(i) Liability.--A certificate holder or employee thereof
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shall not be liable to any individual on the voluntary credit
suspension list or to any other party in any judicial proceeding
for any harm, monetary or otherwise, which may arise as a result
of:
(1) the failure of a certificate holder to restore
credit privileges to an individual on the voluntary credit
suspension list; or
(2) otherwise permitting an individual on the voluntary
credit suspension list to engage in gaming activity in the
licensed facility while on the voluntary credit suspension
list.
(j) Tax liability.--Draws against unsecured credit extended
to patrons pursuant to this section which become uncollectible
may not be claimed by a certificate holder as a deduction,
credit or any other type of reduction or offset against any tax
imposed by this part or the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2),
known as the Tax Reform Code of 1971.]
§ 1504. Wagering on credit.
Except as otherwise provided in this section, slot machine
licensees shall not extend credit. Slot machine licensees shall
not accept credit cards, charge cards or debit cards from a
patron or a player for the exchange or purchase of slot machine
credits or for an advance of coins or currency to be utilized by
a player to play slot machine games or extend credit in any
manner to a player so as to enable the player to play slot
machines. [Slot machine licensees who hold a table game
operation certificate may extend credit for slot machine gaming
in accordance with section 13A26 (relating to cash
equivalents).]
§ 1611. Prohibitions.
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A gaming junket enterprise or gaming junket representative
shall not do any of the following:
(1) Engage in efforts to collect on any check provided
by a gaming junket participant that has been returned by a
financial institution without payment.
[(2) Exercise approval authority over the authorization
or issuance of credit under section 13A27 (relating to other
financial transactions).]
(3) Receive or retain a fee from an individual for the
privilege of participating in a gaming junket.
(4) Pay for any service, including transportation, or
other thing of value provided to a participant participating
in a gaming junket except as authorized by this part.
Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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