February 26, 2019 CSI Filing

Created by Executive Order 2011-01K, the Common Sense Initiative (CSI), and Senate Bill 2 of the 129th General Assembly, require state agencies, including the Casino Control Commission, to draft rules in collaboration with stakeholders, assess and justify any adverse impact on the business community (as defined by Senate Bill 2), and provide opportunity for the affected public to provide input on the rules. 

The Ohio Casino Control Commission submitted the following proposed rules to the CSI office for review on February 26, 2019: 

Brief Explanation of the Rules 

This package contains rules subject to the five-year review for 2019. Ohio law mandates that agencies review all existing rules to determine if the rules would benefit from modification or repeal. The review must occur within five years of the rule’s effective date. This batch includes rules that relate to casino surveillance systems, responsibilities of surveillance departments, and procedures governing the Commission’s on-site surveillance rooms. Many of the changes are small housekeeping amendments to clean up and clarify rule language. One consistent change, a reflection of present practice, is codifying the Executive Director’s approval authority throughout the rule, given that role’s responsibility to administer casino gaming pursuant to R.C. 3772.06. This will allow for day-to-day casino operations to generally be more dynamic, without sacrificing regulatory oversight.   

OAC 3772-19 (11 Rules)

  • 3772-10-02 (amendment) – titled “Internal controls.” This rule requires casino operators to submit internal control plans to the Commission. The amendments remove the requirement for internal controls governing surveillance because Ohio Adm.Code 3772-19 is so prescriptive as to not necessitate additional internal controls on the relevant matters. The amendments also delegate authority to the Executive Director to approve conditional licensing items.
  • 3772-19-01 (amendment) – titled “Minimum surveillance requirements.” This rule describes the requirement for each casino operator to have a surveillance system that must operate with the Executive Director's approval. The amended rule bolsters the Commission's ability to ensure the integrity of casino gaming by giving the Commission the authority to conduct both testing and audits of a casino's surveillance system at any time. Because Ohio Adm.Code 3772-1-04 governs waivers granted by the Commission, there is no need to have a waiver provision specific to surveillance and, thus, it has been removed. The purpose of this amendment is to remove duplicative language or provisions articulated in another rule while clarifying a casino operator’s responsibilities with respect to casino surveillance.
  • 3772-19-02 (amendment) – titled “Responsibilities of the surveillance department.” The amendments to this rule are intended to lessen the procedural onus placed upon casino operators to remain compliant with the rules adopted by the Commission, while maintaining the Commission’s ability to ensure the integrity of casino gaming. As the Commission slightly pivots to regulatory oversight primarily by audit rather than prospective review and approval, the amendments to this rule require that a casino operator’s surveillance plan be made available to the Commission, rather than it be submitted for approval prior to implementation. The amendments further clarify that a casino operator's interactive electronic floor plans must show the placement of all surveillance equipment in its facility as well as all the gaming equipment on its floor.
  • 3772-19-03 (amendment) – titled “Required surveillance system.” The purpose of this rule is to detail the baseline requirements for each casino's surveillance system, including video camera quality, video monitor capability, and image capturing utility. Substantively, the amendments provide the option for casino operators to operate a surveillance system that allows for remote access for authorized personnel according to the rule and in accordance with the requirements provided in Ohio Adm.Code 3772-10-15. The amendments further provide that a casino operator’s IT personnel may, for the purposes of maintenance and security, have access to surveillance system hardware and software. Finally, cameras no longer need to be installed in a manner that provides ambiguity of their direction and coverage capabilities, as this provision provided minimal regulatory benefits.
  • 3772-19-04 (amendment) – titled “Commission surveillance room and on-site facilities.” The purpose of the rule is to detail the minimum specifications for the Commission surveillance room, including workstation capabilities, telephone and internet communication systems, and how room location and size are to be determined. The amendments are primarily to safeguard the Commission’s ability to ensure the integrity of casino gaming, by providing the Commission with access to (including override access of) the surveillance system, which existed previously in a separate rule but is more appropriately placed here. The amendments are also intended to ensure the Commission’s surveillance room is equipped to facilitate secure remote access to its surveillance system, and that the Commission has absolute control over the provided surveillance equipment.
  • 3772-19-05 (amendment) – titled “Casino surveillance room.” The purpose of this rule is to detail minimum specifications for the casino surveillance room including location of the entrance, limits on access, and minimum surveillance room staff requirements. Pursuant to its five-year review, the amendments attempt to clarify language. Aligning with language changes in other rules, the amendment to the rule specifies it is the Executive Director that may increase the minimum casino surveillance room staffing, and it is the Executive Director and the Director of Surveillance who must authorize non-Commission personnel to enter the casino surveillance room.
  • 3772-19-06 (amendment) – titled “Surveillance department.” The purpose of the rule is to detail minimum operating requirements for each casino’s surveillance department, including the responsibilities of the Director of Surveillance, surveillance employee training, and permitted uses of surveillance resources. Other than replacing the term “Commission” with “Executive Director” throughout the rule, for the reasons articulated above, the only substantive change removes the minimum training requirements for surveillance employees because a similar, near redundant provision exists in Ohio Adm.Code 3772-10-03, rendering this provision unnecessary.
  • 3772-19-07 (amendment) – titled “Required surveillance coverage.” The amendments to this rule require all poker rooms to continue to be monitored and recorded by the surveillance system, just as table game areas are, but allows for a waiver of such surveillance requirements for player against player contests conducted outside of the designated, segregated poker room. Generally, the nature of those events do not require the level of scrutiny that standard table game or slot machine play does, which merits this reduction in surveillance coverage as long as a plan for otherwise sufficient coverage is provided to and approved by the Executive Director. Further, the amendments to this rule clarify it is the Executive Director who must approve all surveillance coverage at each casino facility and determine how the surveillance systems of casino facilities will monitor and record activity in non-gaming areas. The amendments also mandate that casino operators maintain and employ at least one secure room for detention purposes equipped with audio and video surveillance equipment cable of continuous monitoring and recording.
  • 3772-19-08 (amendment) – titled “Surveillance retention.” The amendments to this rule seek consistency of language with Ohio Adm.Code 3772-19-09, in particular ensuring paragraph (C) of this rule tracks the language in Ohio Adm.Code 3772-19-09(A). The only other substantive amendment removes a surveillance-specific retention rule because the general retention requirements in Ohio Adm. Code 3772-1-07 and 3772-10-05 already apply.
  • 3772-19-09 (amendment) – titled “Surveillance reports.” First, as described above, consistent language is sought between paragraph (A) and Ohio Adm.Code 3772-19-08(C). Second, while it appears that many of the surveillance log requirements were eliminated, these amendments merely reflect present practice in that this information is required to be tracked, reported, or otherwise memorialized in other fashions. As a consequence, much of this rule required items to be logged for the sake of being logged, which became redundant and tedious work, and shifted forces from actual surveillance. The amendments provide the Commission continuous access to surveillance reports without the reports needing to be stored in a manner that prevents alteration entirely because alterations may be necessary and are acceptable if tracked access is limited to surveillance and Commission employees. 
  • 3772-19-10 (amendment) – titled “Maintenance and malfunctions.” The amendments to this rule are intended to clarify responsibilities during maintenance malfunctions. No substantive changes, other than those related to the insertion of “Executive Director” were made. All remaining changes are merely to clarify and better articulate a casino operator’s responsibilities under this rule.

Associated CSI Documents
Business Impact Analysis

Contact Information for Comments
The Commission welcomes comments regarding these proposed rules. To ensure your comments are considered as part of the Common Sense Initiative (“CSI”) review period, the Commission should receive them no later than March 13, 2019.

Any questions or comments with respect to these rules may be directed to Michelle Siba via email at Michelle.Siba@casinocontrol.ohio.gov or U.S. Mail at 100 East Broad Street, 20th Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43215. Comments may also be directed to the CSI Office at csipubliccomments@governor.ohio.gov.


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