§ 1301. Definitions. As used in this article the following terms shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:

1. "Affiliate". A person that directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls or is controlled by, or is under common control with, a specified person.

2. "Applicant". Any person who on his or her own behalf or on behalf of another has applied for permission to engage in any act or activity which is regulated under the provisions of this article.

3. "Application". A written request for permission to engage in any act or activity which is regulated under the provisions of this article.

4. "Authorized game". Any game determined by the commission to be compatible with the public interest and to be suitable for casino use after such appropriate test or experimental period as the commission may deem appropriate. An authorized game may include gaming tournaments in which players compete against one another in one or more of the games authorized herein or by the commission or in approved variations or composites thereof if the tournaments are authorized.

5. "Board". The New York state gaming facility location board established by the commission pursuant to section one hundred nine-a of this chapter.

6. "Business". A corporation, sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company or any other organization formed for the purpose of carrying on a commercial enterprise.

7. "Casino". One or more locations or rooms in a gaming facility that have been approved by the commission for the conduct of gaming in accordance with the provisions of this article.

8. "Casino key employee". Any natural person employed by a gaming facility licensee, or holding or intermediary company of a gaming facility licensee, and involved in the operation of a licensed gaming facility in a supervisory capacity and empowered to make discretionary decisions which regulate gaming facility operations; or any other employee so designated by the commission for reasons consistent with the policies of this article.

9. "Casino vendor enterprise". Any vendor offering goods or services which directly relate to casino or gaming activity, or any vendor providing to gaming facility licensees or applicants goods and services ancillary to gaming activity. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any form of enterprise engaged in the manufacture, sale, distribution, testing or repair of slot machines within the state, other than antique slot machines, shall be considered a casino vendor enterprise for the purposes of this article regardless of the nature of its business relationship, if any, with gaming facility applicants and licensees in this state.

10. "Close associate". A person who holds a relevant financial interest in, or is entitled to exercise power in, the business of an applicant or licensee and, by virtue of that interest or power, is able to exercise a significant influence over the management or operation of a gaming facility or business licensed under this article.

11. "Commission". The New York state gaming commission.

12. "Complimentary service or item". A service or item provided at no cost or at a reduced cost to a patron of a gaming facility.

13. "Conservator". A person appointed by the commission to temporarily manage the operation of a gaming facility.

14. "Credit card". A card, code or other device with which a person may defer payment of debt, incur debt and defer its payment, or purchase property or services and defer payment therefor, but not a card, code or other device used to activate a preexisting agreement between a person and a financial institution to extend credit when the person's account at the financial institution is overdrawn or to maintain a specified minimum balance in the person's account at the financial institution.

15. "Debt". Any legal liability, whether matured or unmatured, liquidated or unliquidated, absolute, fixed or contingent, including debt convertible into an equity security which has not yet been so converted, and any other debt carrying any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase an equity security which warrant or right has not yet been exercised.

16. "Encumbrance". A mortgage, security interest, lien or charge of any nature in or upon property.

17. "Executive director". The executive director of the New York state gaming commission.

18. "Family". Spouse, domestic partner, partner in a civil union, parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, siblings, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, fathers-in-law, mothers-in-law, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, whether by the whole or half blood, by marriage, adoption or natural relationship.

19. "Game". Any banking or percentage game located within the gaming facility played with cards, dice, tiles, dominoes, or any electronic, electrical, or mechanical device or machine for money, property, or any representative of value which has been approved by the commission.

20. "Gaming" or "gambling". The dealing, operating, carrying on, conducting, maintaining or exposing for pay of any game.

21. "Gaming device" or "gaming equipment". Any electronic, electrical, or mechanical contrivance or machine used in connection with gaming or any game.

22. "Gaming employee". Any natural person, not otherwise included in the definition of casino key employee, who is employed by a gaming facility licensee, or a holding or intermediary company of a gaming facility licensee, and is involved in the operation of a licensed gaming facility or performs services or duties in a gaming facility or a restricted casino area; or any other natural person whose employment duties predominantly involve the maintenance or operation of gaming activity or equipment and assets associated therewith or who, in the judgment of the commission, is so regularly required to work in a restricted casino area that registration as a gaming employee is appropriate.

23. "Gaming facility". The premises approved under a gaming license which includes a gaming area and any other nongaming structure related to the gaming area and may include, but shall not be limited to, hotels, restaurants or other amenities.

24. "Gaming facility license". Any license issued pursuant to this article which authorizes the holder thereof to own or operate a gaming facility.

25. "Gross gaming revenue". The total of all sums actually received by a gaming facility licensee from gaming operations less the total of all sums paid out as winnings to patrons; provided, however, that the total of all sums paid out as winnings to patrons shall not include the cash equivalent value of any merchandise or thing of value included in a jackpot or payout.

26. "Holding company". A corporation, association, firm, partnership, trust or other form of business organization, other than a natural person, which, directly or indirectly, owns, has the power or right to control, or has the power to vote any significant part of the outstanding voting securities of a corporation or any other form of business organization which holds or applies for a gaming license; provided, however, that a "holding company", in addition to any other reasonable use of the term, shall indirectly have, hold or own any such power, right or security if it does so through an interest in a subsidiary or any successive subsidiaries, notwithstanding how many such subsidiaries may intervene between the holding company and the gaming facility licensee or applicant.

27. "Host municipality". A city, town or village in which a gaming facility is located or in which an applicant has proposed locating a gaming facility.

28. "Intermediary company". A corporation, association, firm, partnership, trust or other form of business organization, other than a natural person, which is a holding company with respect to a corporation or other form of business organization which holds or applies for a gaming license, and is a subsidiary with respect to a holding company.

29. "Junket". An arrangement intended to induce a person to come to a gaming facility to gamble, where the person is selected or approved for participation on the basis of the person's ability to satisfy a financial qualification obligation related to the person's ability or willingness to gamble or on any other basis related to the person's propensity to gamble and pursuant to which and as consideration for which, any of the cost of transportation, food, lodging, and entertainment for the person is directly or indirectly paid by a gaming facility licensee or an affiliate of the gaming facility licensee.

30. "Junket enterprise". A person, other than a gaming facility licensee or an applicant for a gaming facility license, who employs or otherwise engages the services of a junket representative in connection with a junket to a licensed gaming facility, regardless of whether or not those activities occur within the state.

31. "Junket representative". A person who negotiates the terms of, or engages in the referral, procurement or selection of persons who may participate in, a junket to a gaming facility, regardless of whether or not those activities occur within the state.

32. "Operation certificate". A certificate issued by the commission which certifies that operation of a gaming facility conforms to the requirements of this article and applicable regulations and that its personnel and procedures are sufficient and prepared to entertain the public.

33. "Person". Any corporation, association, operation, firm, partnership, trust or other form of business association, as well as a natural person.

34. "Registration". Any requirement other than one which requires a license as a prerequisite to conduct a particular business as specified by this article.

35. "Registrant". Any person who is registered pursuant to the provisions of this article.

36. "Restricted casino areas". The cashier's cage, the soft count room, the hard count room, the slot cage booths and runway areas, the interior of table game pits, the surveillance room and catwalk areas, the slot machine repair room and any other area specifically designated by the commission as restricted in a licensee's operation certificate.

37. "Qualification" or "qualified". The process of licensure set forth by the commission to determine that all persons who have a professional interest in a gaming facility license, or casino vendor enterprise license, or the business of a gaming facility licensee or gaming vendor, meet the same standards of suitability to operate or conduct business with a gaming facility.

38. "Slot machine". A mechanical, electrical or other device, contrivance or machine which, upon insertion of a coin, token or similar object therein, or upon payment of any consideration whatsoever, is available to play or operate, the play or operation of which, whether by reason of the skill of the operator or application of the element of chance, or both, may deliver or entitle the individual playing or operating the machine to receive cash, or tokens to be exchanged for cash, or to receive merchandise or any other thing of value, whether the payoff is made automatically from the machine or in any other manner, except that the cash equivalent value of any merchandise or other thing of value shall not be included in determining the payout percentage of a slot machine.

39. "Sports wagering". The activity authorized by section one thousand three hundred sixty-seven of this article, provided that there has been a change in federal law authorizing such activity or upon ruling of a court of competent jurisdiction that such activity is lawful.

40. "Subsidiary". A corporation, a significant part of whose outstanding equity securities are owned, subject to a power or right of control, or held with power to vote, by a holding company or an intermediary company, or a significant interest in a firm, association, partnership, trust or other form of business organization, other than a natural person, which is owned, subject to a power or right of control, or held with power to vote, by a holding company or an intermediary company.

41. "Table game". A game, other than a slot machine, which is authorized by the commission to be played in a gaming facility.

42. "Transfer". The sale or other method, either directly or indirectly, of disposing of or parting with property or an interest therein, or the possession thereof, or of fixing a lien upon property or upon an interest therein, absolutely or conditionally, voluntarily or involuntarily, by or without judicial proceedings, as a conveyance, sale, payment, pledge, mortgage, lien, encumbrance, gift, security or otherwise; provided, however, that the retention of a security interest in property delivered to a corporation shall be deemed a transfer suffered by such corporation.