When Do You Need Approval from the Gambling Control Board?

Due to unforeseen circumstances, organizations may find themselves without enough gambling funds to cover expenses which, if not paid, would force them to immediately stop their gambling operation. It’s a rare occurrence, but if it happens to your organization, here’s what you’ll need to know:

Emergency Expenditures
When gambling funds are insufficient to cover essential expenses, you may make emergency payments to vendors directly from your general fund to prevent shutting down your gambling operation. Once sufficient funds are available in the gambling account, you should:

• Submit Form LG275 “Request to Transfer Gambling Funds to General Fund” to the Gambling Control Board along with documentation that the expenditures were necessary to prevent a shutdown
• Wait for an approval letter from the Gambling Control Board before making any reimbursements back into your general fund

Startup Loans
For newly-licensed organizations, different rules apply:

• A newly-licensed organization may loan general fund money to its new gambling account for initial startup expenses
• Once the gambling account has sufficient funds, the organization must obtain Gambling Control Board approval before repaying its startup loan
• After establishing initial operations, no additional startup loans are permitted

To ensure compliance with applicable laws, and to report these payments correctly on your monthly financial reports, it’s crucial to contact your compliance specialist before transferring any money to the gambling account or making any gambling-related expenditures from the general fund.

Reimbursement requests may be denied if:

• Non-gambling funds were used improperly
• Expenditures don’t qualify as true emergencies
• Staff determines the payment wasn’t essential to continue operations