W. Va. Code R. § 179-4-98

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 44, November 1, 2024

Section 179-4-98 - Local and Wide Area Intrastate Progressive Games

98.1. A progressive game may be offered to the public in four different ways:

98.1.a. It may be contained entirely within the memory of one video lottery terminal;

98.1.b. It may be linked with other like-programmed video lottery terminals at the limited gaming facility licensee;

98.1.c. It may be linked among the limited gaming facility licensee and one or more of West Virginia's four pari-mutuel racetracks; or

98.1.d. It may link to the limited gaming facility licensee and to one or more similar venues in one or more states.

98.2. The limited gaming facility licensee may not conduct a progressive game without the expressed consent of the State Lottery Commission.

98.3. To accumulate the "jackpot" prize, the game is designed by its licensed manufacturer to pay part of the payout limit for the regular game being played and to accrue the residual part of the payout limit to pay a pari-mutuel jackpot prize. Example: "A ninety five percent (95%) payout game may be configured as ninety-one and one-half percent (911/2%) payment for the regular game and three and one-half percent (31/2%) reserved to fund the jackpot."

98.4. As the jackpot builds, regular game prizes are paid to players who win lower prizes but who don't win the jackpot. Once someone wins the jackpot prize, the jackpot starts to build again with a designed reset amount.

98.5. In a progressive game confined to a single video lottery terminal, a jackpot may be transferred to another progressive video lottery terminal at the same location in the event of the video lottery terminal malfunction or replacement of the video lottery terminal for some other good reason.

98.6. When the maximum jackpot limit is reached, the jackpot amount must be permitted to remain available until it is won by a player or transferred to another progressive link.

98.7. Records shall be maintained of the amounts shown on a jackpot meter or display. The records shall be retained for a period of three years unless written permission to destroy them earlier is obtained.

98.8. The video lottery terminal shall be linked to at least one meter showing the payoff or jackpot amount that is visible to all players who are playing a video lottery terminal that may potentially win the progressive amount. This meter is the progressive meter.

98.9. By an agreement executed among the limited gaming facility licensee and one or more licensed racetracks and approved by the Commission, groups of video lottery terminals at the limited gaming facility licensee and each licensed racetrack may be linked together with other such groups of terminals at the limited gaming facility licensee and all other licensed racetracks and the central monitoring system at the West Virginia Lottery to form a wide-area [multi-racetrack] progressive game with a single jackpot.

98.10. All video lottery terminals connected to a wide-area progressive system shall:

98.10.a. Require the same maximum wager; or

98.10.b. If requiring different maximum wagers, use the expected value of winning the top award by setting the offs of winning the top awards, within .1% of the target value, in proportion to the amount wagered for the eligible progressive combinations. The method of equalizing the expected value of winning the top award shall be conspicuously displayed on each terminal connected to the system.

98.11. The central monitoring system for the intrastate wide-area progressive game is the Lottery's computer system located in the computer room of the West Virginia Lottery or its hot backup site. In all cases, the limited gaming facility licensee and the licensed racetracks will supply and test central monitoring system software to ensure that it is sufficient to control the wide-area games and to provide adequate and correct reports that are required by the West Virginia Lottery.

98.12. The following procedure outlines how a jackpot is to be verified:

98.12.a. When a jackpot is won, every participating licensee, upon its request, shall have the opportunity to inspect the video lottery terminal, the EPROM, the error events received by the central monitoring system and any other data which could reasonably be used to ascertain the validity of the jackpot.

98.12.b. The central monitoring system shall produce reports that will clearly demonstrate the method of arriving at the jackpot amount. This includes the credits contributed at the beginning of the polling cycle immediately following the previous jackpot win and all credits contributed up to, and including, the polling cycle, which includes the jackpot signal. Credits contributed to the system after the jackpot occurs in real-time, but during the same polling cycle are considered to have been contributed to the progressive amount prior to the jackpot win.

98.12.c. Jackpots above a set threshold amount may be paid in down-payment and balance installments to allow for transfer of contribution funds to the payer licensee as long as each video lottery terminal clearly displays the information related to short term, installment payments. The second or balance payment shall be paid to the winner not later than ten (10) state business days after the jackpot is won.

98.12.d. Every three seconds the protocol updates the terminal controller to determine the jackpot. Two or more jackpots that occur in the same three second window will be determined to have occurred simultaneously; and therefore, each "winner" shall receive his or her pro rata share of the amount shown on the meter. The time stamped on the ticket is irrelevant in determining a winner; the primary evidence of a winner or winners shall be the information contained on the host system. The possibility of jackpot sharing shall be clearly displayed on each progressive video lottery terminal.

98.13. The following outlines the accounting and reporting procedure for a jackpot:

98.13.a. In calculating gross terminal revenue for each track and the limited gaming facility, the Lottery shall deduct from each participating licensee, the amount of established percentage contribution multiplied by the daily amount played at the track and the limited gaming facility for each progressive game. The sum of the contributions to all local progressives and wide-area progressives in play at each racetrack will be a reduction from the reported gross terminal revenue. The contribution percentage may be different for each progressive. The West Virginia Lottery shall maintain a record of the contributions, by licensee, for each individual progressive.

98.13.b. The Lottery shall collect the daily contributions made to the wide-area jackpots through an electronic debit from the limited gaming facility licensee and each licensee racetrack as a part of the daily electronic funds transfer process. Contributions shall be posted to the limited gaming facility licensee's general ledger account.

98.13.c. The West Virginia Lottery will calculate the percentage of contributions from the limited gaming facility licensee and each participating licensee racetrack for each instance in which a jackpot is won. This percentage will be used to determine the limited gaming facility licensee's and each licensee racetrack's portion of the reset value. The reset portion will be collected through an electronic debit from each participating racetrack and the limited gaming facility as a part of the daily sweep for the day the jackpot was won. Within eight (8) state business days the Lottery shall make an electronic fund transfer of the total jackpot amount to the limited gaming facility licensee or the licensee racetrack where the jackpot was won.

98.13.d. When the wide-area progressive game is operated by a permitted manufacturer rather than by the Lottery's central monitoring computer system, the manufacturer's monitoring system shall supply daily reports to the Lottery and/or its designee, that support and verify the economic activity of the games, indicating the amount of, and basis for, the current jackpot contribution by that racetrack or that limited gaming facility. The reports shall include, but not be limited to, a detailed report that lists for each video lottery terminal, summarized by location, the cash in, credits played, credits won and cash out amounts, and progressive contribution totals as those terms are commonly understood by the West Virginia Lottery and the participating licensees.

98.13.e. A copy of the journals prepared by the Lottery in compiling the wide-area contributions and calculation of the reset contribution shall be made available in electronic format to any licensee participating in a wide-area progressive system that requests a copy.

98.13.f. In the event a participating licensee ceases operations and a jackpot is awarded subsequent to the last day of the final month of the licensee's operation, the licensee may not make claim to any part of its contributions to that particular progressive game prize pool.

W. Va. Code R. § 179-4-98