Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Office of the Revisor of Statutes

Chapter 349

Section 349.12

Recent History

349.12 DEFINITIONS.

Subdivision 1.Scope.

As used in sections 349.11 to 349.23 the terms in this section have the meanings given them.

Subd. 2.Active member.

"Active member" means a member who has paid all dues to the organization, who is 18 years of age or older, who has equal voting rights with all other members, who has equal opportunity to be an elected officer, who has equal right and responsibilities of attendance at the regularly scheduled meetings of the organization, whose name and membership origination date appear with the member's knowledge and consent on a list of members of the organization, and who has been a member of the organization for at least six months.

Subd. 3.Affiliate.

"Affiliate" is any person or entity directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by, or under common control or ownership with a licensee of the board or any officer or director of a licensee of the board.

Subd. 3a.Allowable expense.

"Allowable expense" means the percentage of the total cost incurred by the organization in the purchase of any good, service, or other item which corresponds to the proportion of the total actual use of the good, service, or other item that is directly related to conduct of lawful gambling.

Subd. 3b.Bar operation.

"Bar operation" means a method of selling and redeeming gambling equipment within a leased premises which is licensed for the on-sale of alcoholic beverages where such sales and redemptions are made by an employee of the lessor from a common area where food and beverages are also sold.

Subd. 3c.Bar bingo.

"Bar bingo" is a bingo occasion conducted at a permitted premises in an area where intoxicating liquor or 3.2 percent malt beverages are sold and where the licensed organization conducts another form of lawful gambling.

Subd. 4.Bingo.

"Bingo" means a game where each player has a bingo hard card, bingo paper sheet, or facsimile of a bingo paper sheet when used in conjunction with an electronic bingo device, for which a consideration has been paid, and played in accordance with this chapter and with rules of the board for the conduct of bingo. "Bingo" also includes a linked bingo game.

Subd. 5.Bingo occasion.

"Bingo occasion" means a single gathering or session at which a series of one or more successive bingo games is played. There is no limit on the number of games conducted during a bingo occasion but a bingo occasion must not last longer than eight consecutive hours.

Subd. 6.Board.

"Board" is the Gambling Control Board.

Subd. 6a.Booth operation.

"Booth operation" means a method of selling and redeeming gambling equipment by an employee of a licensed organization in a premises the organization leases or owns where such sales and redemptions are made within a separate enclosure that is distinct from areas where food and beverages are sold.

Subd. 7.Capital assets.

"Capital assets" means property, real or personal, except gambling equipment, with an expected useful life of at least two years and a minimum value of $2,000.

Subd. 7a.Charitable contribution.

"Charitable contribution" means one or more of the lawful purposes expenditures under subdivision 25, paragraph (a), clauses (1) to (7), (10) to (15), and (19).

Subd. 8.Checker.

"Checker" means a person who records the number of bingo hard cards purchased and played during each game and records the prizes awarded to the recorded hard cards, but does not collect the payment for the hard cards.

Subd. 9.Deal.

"Deal" means each separate package, or series of packages, consisting of one game of pull-tabs or tipboards with the same serial number.

Subd. 10.Director.

"Director" is the director of the Gambling Control Board.

Subd. 11.Distributor.

"Distributor" is a person who sells gambling equipment for use within the state to licensed organizations, or to organizations conducting excluded or exempt activities under section 349.166.

Subd. 11a.Distributor salesperson.

"Distributor salesperson" means a person who in any manner receives orders for gambling equipment or who solicits a licensed, exempt, or excluded organization to purchase gambling equipment from a licensed distributor.

Subd. 12.

[Repealed, 1991 c 233 s 110]

Subd. 12a.Electronic bingo device.

"Electronic bingo device" means an electronic device used by a bingo player to monitor bingo paper sheets or a facsimile of a bingo paper sheet when purchased at the time and place of an organization's bingo occasion and which (1) provides a means for bingo players to activate numbers announced by a bingo caller; (2) compares the numbers entered by the player to the bingo faces previously stored in the memory of the device; and (3) identifies a winning bingo pattern.

Electronic bingo device does not mean any device into which coin, currency, or tokens are inserted to activate play.

Subd. 13.Face value.

"Face value" means the price per ticket printed on the ticket or the flare.

Subd. 14.

[Repealed, 2002 c 386 art 1 s 12]

Subd. 15.501(c)(3) organization.

"501(c)(3) organization" is an organization exempt from the payment of federal income taxes under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Subd. 15a.Festival organization.

"Festival organization" is an organization conducting a community festival that is exempt from the payment of federal income taxes under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Subd. 16.Flare.

"Flare" is the posted display, with registration stamp affixed or bar code imprinted or affixed, that sets forth the rules of a particular game of pull-tabs or tipboards and that is associated with a specific deal of pull-tabs or grouping of tipboards.

Subd. 16a.Fraternal organization.

"Fraternal organization" means a nonprofit organization which is a branch, lodge, or chapter of a national or state organization registered by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)8 or a 501(c)10 nonprofit organization and exists for the common business, fraternal, or other interests of its members. The term does not include college and high school fraternities and sororities.

Subd. 17.Free play.

"Free play" means a winning ticket that is labeled as a free play or its equivalent.

Subd. 18.Gambling equipment.

"Gambling equipment" means: bingo hard cards or paper sheets, linked bingo paper sheets, devices for selecting bingo numbers, electronic bingo devices, pull-tabs, jar tickets, paddle wheels, paddle wheel tables, paddle tickets, paddle ticket cards, tipboards, tipboard tickets, promotional tickets that mimic a pull-tab or tipboard, pull-tab dispensing devices, and programmable electronic devices that have no effect on the outcome of a game and are used to provide a visual or auditory enhancement of a game.

Subd. 19.Gambling manager.

"Gambling manager" means a person who has been designated by the organization to supervise the lawful gambling conducted by it, has been an active member of the organization for at least the most recent six months at the time of the application for a gambling manager license, and meets other qualifications as prescribed by the board by rule.

Subd. 20.Gross profit.

"Gross profit" means the gross receipts collected from lawful gambling, less reasonable sums necessarily and actually expended for prizes.

Subd. 21.Gross receipts.

"Gross receipts" means all receipts derived from lawful gambling activity including, but not limited to, the following items:

(1) gross sales of bingo hard cards, paper sheets, facsimiles of bingo paper sheets when used in conjunction with an electronic bingo device, and rental of electronic bingo devices before reduction for prizes, expenses, shortages, free plays, or any other charges or offsets;

(2) the ideal gross of pull-tab and tipboard deals or games less the value of unsold and defective tickets and before reduction for prizes, expenses, shortages, free plays, or any other charges or offsets;

(3) gross sales of raffle tickets and paddle tickets before reduction for prizes, expenses, shortages, free plays, or any other charges or offsets;

(4) admission, commission, cover, or other charges imposed on participants in lawful gambling activity as a condition for or cost of participation; and

(5) interest, dividends, annuities, profit from transactions, or other income derived from the accumulation or use of gambling proceeds.

Gross receipts does not include rental proceeds from premises owned by an organization and leased to one or more other organizations for the purposes of conducting lawful gambling.

Subd. 22.Ideal gross.

"Ideal gross" means the total amount of receipts that would be received if every individual ticket in the pull-tab or tipboard deal was sold at its face value. In the calculation of ideal gross and prizes, a free play ticket shall be valued at face value.

Subd. 23.Ideal net.

"Ideal net" means the pull-tab or tipboard deal's ideal gross, as defined under subdivision 22, less the total predetermined prize amounts available to be paid out. When the prize is not entirely a monetary one, the ideal net is 50 percent of the ideal gross.

Subd. 24.Lawful gambling.

"Lawful gambling" is the operation, conduct or sale of bingo, raffles, paddle wheels, tipboards, and pull-tabs.

Subd. 25.Lawful purpose.

(a) "Lawful purpose" means one or more of the following:

(1) any expenditure by or contribution to a 501(c)(3) or festival organization, as defined in subdivision 15a, provided that the organization and expenditure or contribution are in conformity with standards prescribed by the board under section 349.154, which standards must apply to both types of organizations in the same manner and to the same extent;

(2) a contribution to or expenditure for goods and services for an individual or family suffering from poverty, homelessness, or disability, which is used to relieve the effects of that suffering;

(3) a contribution to a program recognized by the Minnesota Department of Human Services for the education, prevention, or treatment of problem gambling;

(4) a contribution to or expenditure on a public or private nonprofit educational institution registered with or accredited by this state or any other state;

(5) a contribution to an individual, public or private nonprofit educational institution registered with or accredited by this state or any other state, or to a scholarship fund of a nonprofit organization whose primary mission is to award scholarships, for defraying the cost of education to individuals where the funds are awarded through an open and fair selection process;

(6) activities by an organization or a government entity which recognize military service to the United States, the state of Minnesota, or a community, subject to rules of the board, provided that the rules must not include mileage reimbursements in the computation of the per diem reimbursement limit and must impose no aggregate annual limit on the amount of reasonable and necessary expenditures made to support:

(i) members of a military marching or color guard unit for activities conducted within the state;

(ii) members of an organization solely for services performed by the members at funeral services;

(iii) members of military marching, color guard, or honor guard units may be reimbursed for participating in color guard, honor guard, or marching unit events within the state or states contiguous to Minnesota at a per participant rate of up to $35 per diem; or

(iv) active military personnel and their immediate family members in need of support services;

(7) recreational, community, and athletic facilities and activities intended primarily for persons under age 21, provided that such facilities and activities do not discriminate on the basis of gender and the organization complies with section 349.154, subdivision 3a;

(8) payment of local taxes authorized under this chapter, taxes imposed by the United States on receipts from lawful gambling, the taxes imposed by section 297E.02, subdivisions 1, 4, 5, and 6, and the tax imposed on unrelated business income by section 290.05, subdivision 3;

(9) payment of real estate taxes and assessments on permitted gambling premises owned by the licensed organization paying the taxes, or wholly leased by a licensed veterans organization under a national charter recognized under section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code;

(10) a contribution to the United States, this state or any of its political subdivisions, or any agency or instrumentality thereof other than a direct contribution to a law enforcement or prosecutorial agency;

(11) a contribution to or expenditure by a nonprofit organization which is a church or body of communicants gathered in common membership for mutual support and edification in piety, worship, or religious observances;

(12) an expenditure for citizen monitoring of surface water quality by individuals or nongovernmental organizations that is consistent with section 115.06, subdivision 4, and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency guidance on monitoring procedures, quality assurance protocols, and data management, provided that the resulting data is submitted to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for review and inclusion in the state water quality database;

(13) a contribution to or expenditure on projects or activities approved by the commissioner of natural resources for:

(i) wildlife management projects that benefit the public at large;

(ii) grant-in-aid trail maintenance and grooming established under sections 84.83 and 84.927, and other trails open to public use, including purchase or lease of equipment for this purpose; and

(iii) supplies and materials for safety training and educational programs coordinated by the Department of Natural Resources, including the Enforcement Division;

(14) conducting nutritional programs, food shelves, and congregate dining programs primarily for persons who are age 62 or older or disabled;

(15) a contribution to a community arts organization, or an expenditure to sponsor arts programs in the community, including but not limited to visual, literary, performing, or musical arts;

(16) an expenditure by a licensed fraternal organization or a licensed veterans organization for payment of water, fuel for heating, electricity, and sewer costs for a building wholly owned or wholly leased by and used as the primary headquarters of the licensed veterans organization or fraternal organization;

(17) expenditure by a licensed veterans organization of up to $5,000 in a calendar year in net costs to the organization for meals and other membership events, limited to members and spouses, held in recognition of military service. No more than $5,000 can be expended in total per calendar year under this clause by all licensed veterans organizations sharing the same veterans post home;

(18) payment of fees authorized under this chapter imposed by the state of Minnesota to conduct lawful gambling in Minnesota;

(19) a contribution or expenditure to honor an individual's humanitarian service as demonstrated through philanthropy or volunteerism to the United States, this state, or local community;

(20) a contribution by a licensed organization to another licensed organization with prior board approval, with the contribution designated to be used for one or more of the following lawful purposes under this section: clauses (1) to (7), (11) to (15), (19), and (25);

(21) an expenditure that is a contribution to a parent organization, if the parent organization: (i) has not provided to the contributing organization within one year of the contribution any money, grants, property, or other thing of value, and (ii) has received prior board approval for the contribution that will be used for a program that meets one or more of the lawful purposes under subdivision 7a;

(22) an expenditure for the repair, maintenance, or improvement of real property and capital assets owned by an organization, or for the replacement of a capital asset that can no longer be repaired, with a fiscal year limit of five percent of gross profits from the previous fiscal year, with no carryforward of unused allowances. The fiscal year is July 1 through June 30. Total expenditures for the fiscal year may not exceed the limit unless the board has specifically approved the expenditures that exceed the limit due to extenuating circumstances beyond the organization's control. An expansion of a building or bar-related expenditures are not allowed under this provision.

(i) The expenditure must be related to the portion of the real property or capital asset that must be made available for use free of any charge to other nonprofit organizations, community groups, or service groups, or is used for the organization's primary mission or headquarters.

(ii) An expenditure may be made to bring an existing building that the organization owns into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

(iii) An organization may apply the amount that is allowed under item (ii) to the erection or acquisition of a replacement building that is in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act if the board has specifically approved the amount. The cost of the erection or acquisition of a replacement building may not be made from gambling proceeds, except for the portion allowed under this item;

(23) an expenditure for the acquisition or improvement of a capital asset with a cost greater than $2,000, excluding real property, that will be used exclusively for lawful purposes under this section if the board has specifically approved the amount;

(24) an expenditure for the acquisition, erection, improvement, or expansion of real property, if the board has first specifically authorized the expenditure after finding that the real property will be used exclusively for lawful purpose under this section; or

(25) an expenditure, including a mortgage payment or other debt service payment, for the erection or acquisition of a comparable building to replace an organization-owned building that was destroyed or made uninhabitable by fire or catastrophe or to replace an organization-owned building that was taken or sold under an eminent domain proceeding. The expenditure may be only for that part of the replacement cost not reimbursed by insurance for the fire or catastrophe or compensation not received from a governmental unit under the eminent domain proceeding, if the board has first specifically authorized the expenditure.

(b) Expenditures authorized by the board under clauses (24) and (25) must be 51 percent completed within two years of the date of board approval; otherwise the organization must reapply to the board for approval of the project. "Fifty-one percent completed" means that the work completed must represent at least 51 percent of the value of the project as documented by the contractor or vendor.

(c) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), "lawful purpose" does not include:

(1) any expenditure made or incurred for the purpose of influencing the nomination or election of a candidate for public office or for the purpose of promoting or defeating a ballot question;

(2) any activity intended to influence an election or a governmental decision-making process;

(3) a contribution to a statutory or home rule charter city, county, or town by a licensed organization with the knowledge that the governmental unit intends to use the contribution for a pension or retirement fund; or

(4) a contribution to a 501(c)(3) organization or other entity with the intent or effect of not complying with lawful purpose restrictions or requirements.

Subd. 25a.Linked bingo game.

"Linked bingo game" means a bingo game played at two or more locations where licensed organizations are authorized to conduct bingo, where there is a common prize pool and a common selection of numbers or symbols conducted at one location, and where the results of the selection are transmitted to all participating locations by satellite, telephone, or other means by a linked bingo game provider.

Subd. 25b.Linked bingo game provider.

"Linked bingo game provider" means any person who provides the means to link bingo prizes in a linked bingo game, who provides linked bingo paper sheets to the participating organizations, who provides linked bingo prize management, and who provides the linked bingo game system.

Subd. 25c.Linked bingo game system.

"Linked bingo game system" means the equipment used by the linked bingo provider to conduct, transmit, and track a linked bingo game. The system must be approved by the board before its use in this state and it must have dial-up or other capability to permit the board to monitor its operation remotely.

Subd. 25d.Linked bingo prize pool.

"Linked bingo prize pool" means the total of all prize money that each participating organization has contributed to a linked bingo game prize and includes any portion of the prize pool that is carried over from one occasion to another in a progressive linked bingo game.

Subd. 26.Manufacturer.

"Manufacturer" means a person or entity who assembles from raw materials or subparts a completed piece of gambling equipment, and who sells or furnishes the equipment for resale or for use in the state. The term includes a person who converts, modifies, adds to, or removes parts or a portion from an item, device, or assembly to further its promotion, sale, or use as gambling equipment in this state. A person only adding or modifying promotional flares to advise the public of the prizes available, the rules of play, and the consideration required is not a manufacturer.

Subd. 26a.Master flare.

"Master flare" is the posted display, with registration stamp affixed or bar code imprinted or affixed, that is used in conjunction with sealed groupings of 100 or fewer sequentially numbered paddle ticket cards.

Subd. 27.Net profit.

"Net profit" means gross profit less reasonable sums actually expended for allowable expenses.

Subd. 28.Organization.

"Organization" means any fraternal, religious, veterans, or other nonprofit organization.

Subd. 28a.Paddle ticket.

"Paddle ticket" means a preprinted ticket that can be used to place wagers on the spin of a paddle wheel.

Subd. 28b.Paddle ticket card.

"Paddle ticket card" means a card to which detachable paddle tickets are attached.

Subd. 28c.Paddle ticket card number.

"Paddle ticket card number" means the unique serial number preprinted by the manufacturer on the stub of a paddle ticket card and the paddle tickets attached to the card.

Subd. 29.Paddle wheel.

"Paddle wheel" means a wheel marked off into sections containing one or more numbers, and which, after being turned or spun, uses a pointer or marker to indicate winning chances.

Subd. 30.Person.

"Person" is an individual, organization, firm, association, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, trustee, or legal representative.

Subd. 30a.Profit carryover.

"Profit carryover" means cumulative net profit less cumulative lawful purpose expenditures.

Subd. 31. Promotional ticket.

A pull-tab or tipboard ticket created and printed by a licensed manufacturer with the words "no purchase necessary" and "for promotional use only" and for which no consideration is given is a promotional ticket.

Subd. 32.Pull-tab.

"Pull-tab" means a single folded or banded ticket or a multi-ply card with perforated break-open tabs, the face of which is initially covered to conceal one or more numbers or symbols, where one or more of each set of tickets or cards has been designated in advance as a winner.

Subd. 32a.Pull-tab dispensing device.

"Pull-tab dispensing device" means a mechanical device that dispenses paper pull-tabs and has no additional function as an amusement or gambling device. A pull-tab dispensing device may have as a component an auditory or visual enhancement to promote or provide information about a game being dispensed, provided the component does not affect the outcome of a game or display the results of a game or an individual ticket.

Subd. 33.Raffle.

"Raffle" means a game in which a participant buys a ticket or other certificate of participation in an event where the prize determination is based on a method of random selection and all entries have an equal chance of selection.

Subd. 34.Tipboard.

"Tipboard" means a board, placard or other device containing a seal that conceals the winning number or symbol, and that serves as the game flare for a tipboard game.

Subd. 35.Tipboard ticket.

"Tipboard ticket" is a single folded or banded ticket, or multi-ply card, the face of which is initially covered or otherwise hidden from view to conceal a number, symbol, or set of symbols, some of which have been designated in advance and at random as prize winners.

Subd. 36.Veterans post home.

"Veterans post home" means a building, or portion of a building, that is leased or owned by one or more licensed veterans organizations, and that is considered the post home for all licensed veterans organizations at that site.

Subd. 37.Wholly leased building.

"Wholly leased building" means a building that is leased in its entirety by a licensed organization, and no part or portion of the building is subleased to any other entity or licensed organization.

Subd. 38.Wholly owned building.

"Wholly owned building" means a building that is owned in its entirety by a licensed organization, and no part or portion of the building is subleased to any other entity or licensed organization.

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes