On Wednesday, July 13, 2022, the National Indian Gaming Commission (“NIGC”) published a notice in the Federal Register that extends the deadline to submit comments on the NIGC’s proposed rule that would amend the regulatory provisions governing audits contained at 25 C.F.R. Part 571 for 30 additional days. Comments on this Proposed Rule will now be accepted until August 1, 2022. The notice provides that the deadline for comments was extended due to requests by Tribal governments.

The NIGC’s proposed rule originally published on June 1, 2022, would, if promulgated, amend 25 C.F.R. Part 571 to: 1) eliminate the Commission’s waiver requirement and allow all gaming operations grossing less than $2 million the prior fiscal year to submit financial statements for review in lieu of an audit, so long as the gaming operation’s regulatory agency permits such a disclosure; 2) create a new financial reporting tier for charitable gaming operations with annual gross revenues of $50,000 or less and establish financial reporting regulations for such operations; and 3) add a provision to clarify the limited specifications in which an adverse opinion could satisfy the regulation’s reporting requirements. These specifications include that adverse opinions must be submitted and may only satisfy the requirement if a) the adverse opinion is “the result of the gaming operation meeting the definition of a state or local government” and preparing its financial statements in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or b) the adverse opinion pertains to a consolidated audit and the operations not attributable to the adverse opinion are clearly identified. The promulgated rule is silent as to whether disclaimed opinions now satisfy the requirement.

Comments to the NIGC’s proposed rule amending audit standards contained at 25 C.F.R. § 571.12 must now be received by August 1, 2022. This notice, as published in the Federal Register, may be found here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/07/13/2022-14911/audit-standards. The proposed rule, as published in the Federal Register, on June 1, 2022, can be found here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/06/01/2022-11482/audit-standards.

Please contact Danielle Her Many Horses at dhermanyhorses@indiangaming.org with any questions or concerns regarding this Alert.