Cage and Credit

The Cage and Credit MICS requirements for credit issuance also apply to these revenue areas when issuing markers.

The Minimum Internal Control Standards do not specify a certain time limit as to when the signature of the approver must be recorded; however, management approval of the credit limit is required prior to issuing credit.  The management approval process is to be performed within a reasonable time frame and the approval should be recorded via signature of the management individual(s) who authorized the credit limit.  

The job functions of credit approval and credit issuance are to be segregated for issuances to single patrons with transactions of $10,000 or more per day.  These job functions do not have to be segregated for transactions of less than $10,000 per day.  For example, it is acceptable for a cage supervisor to approve a credit limit under $10,000 for a patron and also be allowed to issue a marker to this same patron for under $10,000.

Yes, a “Western Union” check or any other check issued by a money service business falls under the requirements of a cashier’s check.  Cashier’s checks are issued by financial institutions.  “Financial institutions” include money service businesses.  The cashier would be required to examine and record at least one item of patron identification (#17a) and for cashier’s checks in amounts over $1,000 the cashier would need to make a reasonable effort to verify the authenticity of the check (#17d).

A credit account is not required to be established, pursuant to MICS #1, for a patron cashing a personal check.  For cashing personal checks, the procedures pursuant to MICS #17 are required to be performed.  A returned personal check becomes a casino accounts receivable when returned from the bank as not paid and a credit adjustment is made to the NGC tax return.  For MICS #25, a receipt is required for a partial payment received on a returned check (even for mail pays).  The balance of outstanding debt is supported by the amount of the returned check less any payments received as evidenced by receipts.  As such, a partial payment receipt on a returned check may be selected for review to comply with the requirements of MICS #76(d).

Yes, the employee’s name is also to be printed on the document along with the employee’s signature. 

These MICS relate to increases and decreases to the total cage inventory amount.  When the total cage inventory amount is changed permanently, possibly due to funds being transferred to a new accountability area (e.g., the slot department adds a new change booth and slot department booths/banks are a separate account in the general ledger), documentation is to be prepared.  In this situation the cage inventory may be permanently decreased by $50,000 to establish a new change booth.

Yes, non-negotiable chips given to patrons are promotional payouts to encourage patrons to participate in gaming activity even though the chips have no monetary value outside of the gaming establishment.  Patron’s use of these chips can result in patron winnings that impact reported table games revenue on the NGC tax returns.

The intent is to perform the required procedure for three days (randomly selected) in the month selected for testing.

The purpose of the required reconciliation to the general ledger for these MICS and other MICS is to ensure that the amounts being reported on the NGC tax returns and recorded in the financial statements are comparable, with any differences (variances) identified and explained.

Additionally, the monthly procedures must be completed at the close of each month.

Yes, the count must be completed for the entire location within the same day and cannot be accomplished with counts of various accountability areas spread over several days.

When an issue slip does not exist, the “payment slip” can be used in place of an “issue slip” to perform the required audit procedures.  The “payment slip” will also contain the relevant information for the cage marker issuance.

Year-to-date inter-company wire transfers between a branch office and a corporate office account do not need to be included in the amounts recorded in the “Branch Office Report”.  The amounts included in this report should reflect only the transaction dollar amounts between patrons and the branch office.

If an independent agent operates a physical office, but the agent is not authorized by the licensee to receive deposits and/or payments on credit instruments from patrons on the licensee’s behalf, then this is not a “branch office” and the branch office logging and reporting requirements of this MICS and MICS #96, #97, and #99 are not applicable.