AN ACT

RELATING TO GAMING; REMOVING THE UPPER LIMIT ON PAYBACK VALUE FOR GAMING MACHINE WAGERS; AMENDING A SECTION OF THE GAMING CONTROL ACT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 60-2E-44 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997, Chapter 190, Section 46, as amended) is amended to read:

"60-2E-44. MACHINE SPECIFICATIONS.--To be eligible for licensure, each gaming machine shall meet all specifications established by regulations of the board and:

A. be unable to be manipulated in a manner that affects the random probability of winning plays or in any other manner determined by the board to be undesirable;

B. have at least one mechanism that accepts coins or currency;

C. be capable of having play suspended through the central system by the executive director until he resets the gaming machine;

D. house nonresettable mechanical and electronic meters within a readily accessible locked area of the gaming machine that maintain a permanent record of all money inserted into the machine, all cash payouts of winnings, all refunds of winnings, all credits played for additional games and all credits won by players;

E. be capable of printing out, at the request of the executive director, readings on the electronic meters of the machine;

F. for machines that do not dispense coins or tokens directly to players, be capable of printing a ticket voucher stating the value of a cash prize won by the player at the completion of each game, the date and time of day the game was played in a twenty-four-hour format showing hours and minutes, the machine serial number, the sequential number of the ticket voucher and an encrypted validation number for determining the validity of a winning ticket voucher;

G. be capable of being linked to the board's central system for the purpose of being monitored continuously as required by the board;

H. provide for a payback value for each credit wagered, determined over time, of not less than eighty percent;

I. meet the standards and specifications set by laws or regulations of the states of Nevada and New Jersey for gaming machines, whichever are more stringent;

J. offer only games authorized and examined by the board; and

K. display the gaming machine license issued for that machine in an easily accessible place, before and during the time that a machine is available for use."