SB 1848

Senate Engrossed
amusements;
  2026-2027.
State of Arizona
Senate
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
SENATE BILL 1848
AN
ACT
amending sections 4-120, 5-226,
5-230, 5-238 and 5-1211, arizona revised statutes; repealing
section 5-1212, arizona revised statutes; amending section 5-1318,
arizona revised statutes; appropriating monies; relating to amusements.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 4-120, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE4-120. Liquor licenses fund; exemption
A. The liquor licenses fund is established
consisting of monies deposited pursuant to sections 4-115 and 4-116.01. The
department of liquor licenses and control shall administer
the fund. The amount deposited in the fund each year shall not
exceed the amount appropriated by the legislature.
B. Monies in the fund are subject to legislative
appropriation.
C. Monies in the fund are exempt from the provisions
of section 35-190 relating to lapsing of appropriations, except that any
monies remaining in the fund on december 31 of each year that are in excess of seven hundred thousand
dollars at the end of each fiscal year $700,000 revert
to the state general fund. END_STATUTE
Sec. 2. Section 5-226, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE5-226. Levy of tax on gross receipts; disposition; verification and
financial audit; definition
A. Any person who promotes a boxing contest in this
state pursuant to this article shall comply with rules adopted pursuant to this
article and shall within ten days after the contest pay to the department four
percent of the gross receipts, after the deduction of city, state and federal
taxes, of the match or exhibition.
B. The department shall verify the gross receipts of
a contest.� The director may require a person licensed under this article to
supply a certified financial audit to the department.� The director shall adopt
rules that require each person licensed under this article to select a
certified public accountant to conduct the financial audit.� The financial
statements prepared pursuant to this section shall be prepared in accordance
with generally accepted accounting principles and shall include any additional
schedules the director requires.� A person subject to a financial audit under
this section shall afford reasonable and needed facilities and make returns and
exhibits to the department in the form and at the time prescribed by the
director.
C. The department of gaming shall
establish an unarmed combat subaccount within the racing regulation fund
established by section 5-113.01.  At the end of each month
the director of the department of gaming shall report to the department of
administration the total amount received under this chapter from all sources,
including license fees, and shall deposit that amount, pursuant to sections 35-146
and 35-147, in the unarmed combat subaccount of the racing
regulation event wagering fund established
by section 5-1318.
D. A promoter may issue complimentary tickets that
are exempt from taxation pursuant to this title. If a promoter
issues complimentary tickets, the exemption from taxation applies to two
percent of the total number of tickets issued for the event or seventy-five
tickets, whichever is greater.
E. The department shall collect and account for
revenues for the commission, including license fees required by section 5-230,
the levy of the tax on gross receipts imposed by this section and the cash bond
or surety bond deposited pursuant to section 5-229. The
director shall report and deposit all revenues collected pursuant to this
subsection, from whatever source, pursuant to subsection C of this
section. The director shall adopt rules as necessary to accomplish
the purposes of this section.
F. For the purposes of this section, "gross
receipts" means all receipts from the face value of tickets sold. END_STATUTE
Sec. 3. Section 5-230, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE5-230. License fees; expiration; renewal; medical examinations
A. The commission may establish and issue annual
licenses and may establish and collect fees for those licenses.� The commission
shall deposit the license fees in the unarmed combat subaccount in the racing regulation event wagering fund
established by section 5-226 5-1318.
B. A license expires at midnight three hundred sixty-five
days after the date of issuance and may be renewed on filing an application for
renewal of a license with the commission and payment of the license fee
prescribed in subsection A of this section. The application for
renewal of a license shall be on a form provided by the
commission. There is a thirty-day grace period during which a
license may be renewed if a late filing penalty fee equal to the license fee is
submitted with the regular license fee. A licensee that files late
shall not conduct any activity regulated by this chapter until the commission
has renewed the license.� If the licensee fails to apply to the commission
within the thirty-day grace period, the licensee must apply for a new
license pursuant to subsection A of this section.
C. The results of all combatant medical examinations
expire three hundred sixty-five days after the date the medical
examination is performed.� The commission may grant a grace period of up to
fifteen days to align with the licensing period. END_STATUTE
Sec. 4. Section 5-238, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE5-238. Sham contest; withholding a purse
A. The commission may withhold all or part of a
purse or other monies payable to any combatant, manager or second if in the
judgment of the commission a combatant is participating in a sham or fake
contest or is otherwise not competing honestly or to the best of the
combatant's ability.
B. If the commission withholds a purse or part of a
purse or other monies, the commission shall give notice to all interested
parties and hold a hearing on the matter within ten days.
C. If the commission determines that a combatant,
manager or second is not entitled to a purse, part of a purse or other monies,
the promoter shall turn such monies over to the director to be applied pursuant
to section 5-226 5-1318,
subsection C. END_STATUTE
Sec. 5. Section 5-1211, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE5-1211. Fees; penalty
A. The department shall establish a fee for the
privilege of operating fantasy sports contests.� In determining the fee, the
department shall consider the highest percentage of revenue share that an
Indian tribe pays to this state pursuant to the tribal-state gaming
compacts and any amendments. The fee may not exceed ten percent of
the fantasy sports contest operator's adjusted revenues. A fantasy
sports contest operator shall report to the department and pay the fee from its
monthly fantasy sports contest adjusted revenues, on a form and in the manner
prescribed by the department. This subsection does not apply to an
individual who offers a fantasy sports contest under section 5-1202,
subsection B.
B. The fee established pursuant to subsection A of
this section is due and payable to the department by the twenty-fifth day
of each month and shall be based on monthly fantasy sports contest adjusted
revenue derived during the previous month.
C. The department shall deposit, pursuant to
sections 35-146 and 35-147, the fees collected pursuant to this
section in the fantasy sports contest event
wagering fund established by section 5-1212 5-1318.
D. A licensed fantasy sports contest operator who
fails to remit to the department the fees required under this section is
liable, in addition to any sanction or penalty imposed under this chapter, for
the payment of a penalty of five percent per month up to a maximum of twenty-five
percent of the amounts ultimately found to be due, to be recovered by the
department. Penalties imposed and collected by the department under
this subsection must be deposited in the fantasy sports contest
EVENT WAGERING fund established by section 5-1212
5-1318. END_STATUTE
Sec. 6. Repeal; transfer of monies
A. Section 5-1212, Arizona
Revised Statutes, is repealed.
B. All unexpended and
unencumbered monies remaining the fantasy sports contest fund established by
section 5-1212, Arizona Revised Statutes, as repealed by subsection A of
this section, are transferred to the event wagering fund established by section
5-1318, Arizona Revised Statutes, as amended by this act, on the
effective date of this section.
Sec. 7. Section 5-1318, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE5-1318. Fees; event wagering fund; subaccount
A. The department
shall establish a fee for the privilege of operating event
wagering. In determining the fee, the department shall consider the
highest percentage of revenue share that an Indian tribe pays to this state
pursuant to the tribal-state gaming compact. The fee may not exceed
ten percent of the event wagering operator's adjusted gross event wagering
receipts. The event wagering operator or designee has the option to
choose either the cash accrual or modified accrual basis method of accounting
for purposes of calculating the amount of the fee owed by the event wagering
operator or designee. The fees required pursuant to this section are
due and payable to the department not later than the twenty-fifth day of the
month following the calendar month in which the adjusted gross event wagering
receipts were received and the obligation was accrued.
B. The event wagering fund is established consisting
of monies deposited pursuant to this chapter, monies deposited
pursuant to section 5-1211 or monies from
any other source. The department shall administer the
fund. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the department
shall deposit, pursuant to sections 35-146 and 35-147, all monies
collected under this chapter in the event wagering fund.� On or before the
twenty-fifth of each month, ninety percent of the monies deposited in the
event wagering fund from the previous month shall be transferred to the state
general fund.� On notice from the department, the state treasurer shall invest
and divest monies in the fund as provided by section 35-313, and monies
earned from investment shall be credited to the fund.
C. The unarmed combat subaccount of
the event wagering fund is established consisting of monies received from
LICENSE fees collected pursuant to section 5-230 and from any other
source. The
department shall administer the subaccount.� At the end of each
month the director of the department shall report to the department of
administration the total amount received pursuant to this subsection and shall
deposit that amount, pursuant to sections 35-146 and 35-147, in the
unarmed combat subaccount.� The department may transfer monies the department
spends on the annual costs to regulate and enforce this chapter pursuant to
subsection D of this section from the event wagering fund into the unarmed
combat subaccount.
C. D. Unless
otherwise determined by the legislature, the department may spend not more than
ten percent of monies on the department's annual costs of regulating and
enforcing this chapter and chapter 10 of this title. of the ten percent, the department may spend up to $500,000 each
fiscal year to support problem gambling programs.
E. the department may use monies
designated for problem gambling programs pursuant to subsection D of this
section and any other monies designated for problem gambling, including private
donations, grants or federal monies, to disburse grants for problem gambling
purposes. END_STATUTE
Sec. 8. Department of gaming; regulatory assessment; pari-mutuel
pool
Notwithstanding
any other law, in fiscal year 2026-2027, the department of gaming shall
establish and collect a regulatory assessment from each commercial racing
permittee, payable from amounts deducted from pari-mutuel pools by the
permittee, in addition to the amounts the permittee is authorized to deduct
pursuant to section 5-111, subsection B, Arizona Revised Statutes, from
amounts wagered on live and simulcast races from in-state and out-of-state
wagering handled by the permittee, in the amount of 0.5 percent of the amounts
wagered.
Sec. 9. Department of
gaming; horse racing; gate approval; timed workouts; delayed repeal
A. Notwithstanding any
other law, for race meetings in the years 2026 and 2027, the department of
gaming may allow a first-time starter horse to race as long as the horse has
gate approval and at least two timed workouts. One of the timed
workouts shall be an out-of-the-gate workout that is
conducted within sixty days of the race in which the horse is entered.
B. This section is repealed
from and after December 31, 2027.