{"id":2082,"date":"2020-04-03T12:18:57","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T16:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/covid19\/?p=2082"},"modified":"2020-04-03T12:24:43","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T16:24:43","slug":"american-gaming-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/2020\/04\/03\/american-gaming-association\/","title":{"rendered":"American Gaming Association"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"col-lg-10 px-lg-0 mb-10 mb-lg-50 mt-10 mt-lg-50\">AGA CEO Statement on the SBA\u2019s Interim Guidelines for the Paycheck Protection Program<\/h2>\n<p>APRIL 3, 2020<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americangaming.org\/new\/aga-ceo-statement-on-small-business-administration-interim-guidelines-for-the-paycheck-protection-program\/\">https:\/\/www.americangaming.org\/new\/aga-ceo-statement-on-small-business-administration-interim-guidelines-for-the-paycheck-protection-program\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>WASHINGTON \u2013&nbsp;<\/strong>American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller released the following&nbsp;statement&nbsp;on the interim regulatory guidelines issued by the Small Business Administration for the Paycheck Protection Program:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe American Gaming Association (AGA) is deeply concerned with the <a href=\"https:\/\/content.sba.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2020-04\/PPP--IFRN%20FINAL.pdf\">interim regulatory guidelines<\/a> issued by the Small Business Administration (SBA), which preclude small gaming entities and their employees from receiving economic support under the newly-established Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn SBA\u2019s efforts to quickly issue guidance on the PPP, they relied on antiquated, discriminatory regulations that ignore today\u2019s economic reality and the congressional intent behind the CARES Act, which states that&nbsp;<u>any<\/u>&nbsp;business concern&nbsp;<u>shall<\/u>&nbsp;be eligible to receive an SBA loan if they meet specific qualifications regarding their number of employees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnless amended, these initial guidelines will irreparably harm one-third of the U.S. casino industry and the hundreds of thousands of Americans that rely on gaming businesses for their livelihood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis decision will affect hard-working Americans from Pennsylvania to Nevada, Ohio to Colorado, and everywhere in between who need and deserve the same level of support as anyone across the country during these unprecedented times. Moreover, as the AGA pointed out in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americangaming.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/AGA-letter-to-SBA-3-31-20-FINAL.pdf\">letter to SBA and the U.S. Department of Treasury<\/a>, the inclusion of gaming businesses in the PPP is critical to help ensure employees can remain connected to their employers, stay off of unemployment, and quickly return to their jobs when this pandemic subsides.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe AGA urges SBA Administrator Carranza to immediately correct this oversight and extend this needed relief to all of America\u2019s&nbsp;small businesses and their employees, including those&nbsp;in&nbsp;the communities across 43 states that rely on our industry\u2019s contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Background<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Casino gaming is vital to local small businesses, supporting 350,000 small business jobs and delivering&nbsp;$52 billion&nbsp;annually in small business revenue, including construction, manufacturing, retail, and wholesale firms.<\/li>\n<li>Nearly all (987 of 989) commercial and tribal casino properties have shuttered their doors because of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than half of the 1.8 million jobs gaming supports are at non-gaming businesses, such as restaurants and local shops, which are all dramatically affected by a local casino\u2019s closure.<\/li>\n<li>In many states, gaming pays among the highest tax rates of any industry with $10.7 billion in gaming taxes and tribal revenue share payments that support fundamental and critical programs from infrastructure to education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>More information on COVID-19\u2019s impact on U.S. casino industry workers and local communities is available&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.americangaming.org\/covid-19-resources\/#impact-of-covid-19\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NEW: AGA President and CEO Bill Miller issues statement calling on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SBAgov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SBAgov<\/a> to revise the Paycheck Protection Program interim regulatory guidelines: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CW0AltdfTS\">https:\/\/t.co\/CW0AltdfTS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2xy4Z5CkVP\">pic.twitter.com\/2xy4Z5CkVP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; American Gaming Association (@AmericanGaming) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AmericanGaming\/status\/1246049214347567104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 3, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The American Gaming Association is deeply concerned with the interim regulatory guidelines which preclude small gaming entities and their employees from receiving economic support under the newly-established Paycheck Protection Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[272,205],"class_list":["post-2082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organizations","tag-aga","tag-h-r-748"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2082"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2087,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2082\/revisions\/2087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/covid19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}