Dotty’s slot parlor reimbursed nearly $5M for overpayment of Nevada gaming taxes

Less than a year after paying Dotty’s slot parlor chain $3.1 million for overpayment of gaming taxes, the Nevada Gaming Commission voted to give the operator an additional $1.75 million as part of a further investigation, and indicated that a third reimbursement is forthcoming.

Dotty’s, which is owned by Nevada Restaurant Services, had the right to seek interest payments under state law even though Commission members had previously balked at the prospect because Dotty’s had made the mistake of the overpayment.

As it did last year, Dotty’s agreed to forgo interest payments that combined from both cases would have surpassed $1 million. Dotty’s also agreed to pay $60,400 to reimburse the Gaming Control Board for 302 hours of investigative work.

This second reimbursement was expected when the Commission approved the first payout.

The $3.1 million refund was the tax on the $46.9 million in gaming revenue involved, or about 6.75% of that amount. The $1.75 million payout was based on $27.3 million in gaming revenue.

The latest claim dates back from September 2019 to August 2021. The previous claim went back to August 2021.

There is a five-year statute of limitation to claim refunds, meaning Dotty’s is unable to recover millions of dollars from prior to that time frame. The claim was filed in September 2024.

Dotty’s has a third claim pending dealing with bonus jackpot payouts, but that amount wasn’t disclosed at Thursday’s meeting.

The overpayments date back to a Konami casino management system that didn’t note the exclusion of cash promotions that aren’t considered gaming revenue. If $5 is given to the player and won back by the operator, for example, it’s supposed to be excluded from taxation.

“At the end of the day we needed to do what was right,” said Commission member Brian Krolicki. “Companies shouldn’t pay taxes that are too much, and they certainly shouldn’t pay taxes that are too little. They need to be just right. This exercise is getting that. I never imagined the horse power [of 302 hours of staff time] to go behind the clarification and computation of these figures.”

Commission member Rosa Solis-Rainey praised the company for forgoing the interest payments once again.