AGA: PPP changes still “woefully short” of addressing issues

The American Gaming Association (AGA) described revised guidelines allowing more businesses to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) as still falling “woefully short” of helping small gaming businesses survive the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The PPP, part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, aims to make $349bn in loans available to small businesses impacted by Covid-19.

However, the wording of the regulations governing PPP by the Small Business Administration (SBA) initially stated that businesses “deriving more than one-third of gross annual revenue from legal gambling activities” were ineligible for the scheme.

It has now been updated, to state that a business does not automatically lose the right to apply for a PPP loan if it receives legal gaming revenue, provided two conditions are satisfied.

Businesses may now claim for PPP if their gaming revenue was less than $1m in 2019, and comprised less than 50% of total revenue for that year.

The SBA said it believed this test “appropriately balances the longstanding policy reasons for limiting lending to businesses primarily and substantially engaged in gaming activity” with the policy aim of making the loans as widely available as possible.

However the AGA said the revised guidelines represent some process, they fell “woefully short of fully addressing antiquated, discriminatory policies that have, to date, restricted small gaming companies from accessing critical loan support made available through the CARES Act”.

Read the full story on iGB North America.