2021 Delaware Code
Title 29 - State Government
Chapter 48. Lotteries
Subchapter I. State Lottery
§ 4819. Restrictions on location and use of video lottery and sports lottery machines; fees.
(a) Video lottery machines and table game equipment shall only be located within the confines of an existing racetrack property in this State on which was conducted in 1993 either a horse racing meet pursuant to Title 3 or Title 28 or a harness horse racing meet pursuant to Title 3 and/or such immediately adjacent property or properties that are owned by, or immediately adjacent properties that may be acquired by, the video lottery licensee authorized to conduct such horse racing or harness racing; and provided further, that video lottery machines, sports lottery machines and table game equipment shall not be located in a hotel, motel or other overnight sleeping facility.
(b) In respect of any pari-mutuel harness racing or pari-mutuel horse racing property the racing operations on which were lawful under any county or municipal zoning ordinance as of January 1, 1993, the use of video lottery machines pursuant to the provisions of this act on such property and/or on any immediately adjacent property or properties that are owned by, or immediately adjacent properties that may be acquired by, the video lottery licensee authorized to conduct such horse racing or harness racing shall not be deemed to change the character of such lawful land use and such use of video lottery machines shall not be prohibited by any such county or municipal zoning ordinance, including amendments thereto.
(c) Video lottery machines and sports lottery machines shall be connected to the lottery's central computer system, except when used for promotional tournaments in which players are not required to pay any fee to participate. The specific hours of operation for each video lottery agent are subject to the recommendation of the Lottery Director and the approval of the Secretary of Finance.
(d) (1) For the privilege of hosting the operation of table games, the State shall collect from the video lottery agents for the benefit of the General Fund, for each fiscal year after June 30, 2018, license fees totaling $3,000,000, to be paid no later than June 1 of the preceding fiscal year, and to be allocated among the video lottery agents offering table games as follows:
Each video lottery agent's license fee shall be the portion of $3,000,000 that is equal to the percentage of gross table game revenue generated at that video lottery facility in the preceding fiscal year out of the total gross table game revenue generated at all video lottery facilities in the preceding fiscal year.(2) The license fee required under paragraph (d)(1) of this section is suspended for fiscal year 2020, and no payment is owed to the Delaware Lottery on June 1, 2019. For each fiscal year thereafter, each video lottery agent shall be permitted for purposes of this subsection to reduce the license fee it would otherwise owe for that year pursuant to paragraph (d)(1) of this section by the amount of qualified investments made in the 12-month period ending on June 30 by the video lottery agent in the competitiveness of its facilities and business, if such qualified investments are increased by the amount of such video lottery agent's proportional share of the $3,000,000 license fee. The video lottery agents shall provide the Director annually an accounting of the qualified investments made pursuant to this paragraph. A qualified investment pursuant to this paragraph shall be determined by the Director to benefit the competitiveness or services of such video lottery agent and may include expenditures for all of the following:
a. Marketing of lottery games promotional items provided to patrons, with complimentary items valued at their normal retail value.
b. Wages and benefits, including health care and retiree benefits, of the video lottery facility's operations, excluding executive compensation, all as determined by the Director to be in excess of the comparable amount of such expenditures made by the video lottery agent during the 12-month period ending December 31, 2017, measured as a percentage of the proceeds from the operation of the video lottery and table games.
(3) Expenditures for marketing, wages, or benefits under paragraph (d)(2) of this section apply to any facilities used by the video lottery agent in direct connection with its operations, including its video lottery, sports lottery and table games facilities, horse racing facilities, food and beverage operations, entertainment venues, retail operations, parking facilities, and if applicable, hotel and golf course amenities.
