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349.166 EXCLUSIONS; EXEMPTIONS.
    Subdivision 1. Exclusions. (a) Bingo, with the exception of linked bingo games, may be
conducted without a license and without complying with sections 349.168, subdivisions 1 and 2;
349.17, subdivisions 1, 4, and 5; 349.18, subdivision 1; and 349.19, if it is conducted:
(1) by an organization in connection with a county fair, the state fair, or a civic celebration
and is not conducted for more than 12 consecutive days and is limited to no more than four
separate applications for activities applied for and approved in a calendar year; or
(2) by an organization that conducts bingo on four or fewer days in a calendar year.
An organization that holds a license to conduct lawful gambling under this chapter may not
conduct bingo under this subdivision.
(b) Bingo may be conducted within a nursing home or a senior citizen housing project or by
a senior citizen organization if the prizes for a single bingo game do not exceed $10, total prizes
awarded at a single bingo occasion do not exceed $200, no more than two bingo occasions are
held by the organization or at the facility each week, only members of the organization or residents
of the nursing home or housing project are allowed to play in a bingo game, no compensation is
paid for any persons who conduct the bingo, and a manager is appointed to supervise the bingo.
Bingo conducted under this paragraph is exempt from sections 349.11 to 349.23, and the board
may not require an organization that conducts bingo under this paragraph, or the manager who
supervises the bingo, to register or file a report with the board. The gross receipts from bingo
conducted under the limitations of this subdivision are exempt from taxation under chapter 297A.
(c) Raffles may be conducted by an organization without registering with the board if the
value of all raffle prizes awarded by the organization in a calendar year does not exceed $1,500.
(d) Except as provided in paragraph (b), the organization must maintain all required records
of excluded gambling activity for 3-1/2 years.
    Subd. 2. Exemptions. (a) Lawful gambling, with the exception of linked bingo games, may
be conducted by an organization without a license and without complying with sections 349.168,
subdivisions 1 and 2
; 349.17, subdivisions 4 and 5; 349.18, subdivision 1; and 349.19 if:
(1) the organization conducts lawful gambling on five or fewer days in a calendar year;
(2) the organization does not award more than $50,000 in prizes for lawful gambling in a
calendar year;
(3) the organization pays a fee of $50 to the board, notifies the board in writing not less than
30 days before each lawful gambling occasion of the date and location of the occasion, or 60 days
for an occasion held in the case of a city of the first class, the types of lawful gambling to be
conducted, the prizes to be awarded, and receives an exemption identification number;
(4) the organization notifies the local government unit 30 days before the lawful gambling
occasion, or 60 days for an occasion held in a city of the first class;
(5) the organization purchases all gambling equipment and supplies from a licensed
distributor; and
(6) the organization reports to the board, on a single-page form prescribed by the board,
within 30 days of each gambling occasion, the gross receipts, prizes, expenses, expenditures of
net profits from the occasion, and the identification of the licensed distributor from whom all
gambling equipment was purchased.
(b) If the organization fails to file a timely report as required by paragraph (a), clause (3) or
(6), the board shall not issue any authorization, license, or permit to the organization to conduct
lawful gambling on an exempt, excluded, or licensed basis until the report has been filed and the
organization may be subject to penalty as determined by the board. The board may refuse to issue
any authorization, license, or permit if a report or application is determined to be incomplete or
knowingly contains false or inaccurate information.
(c) Merchandise prizes must be valued at their fair market value.
(d) Organizations that qualify to conduct exempt raffles under paragraph (a), are exempt
from section 349.173, paragraph (b), clause (2), if the raffle tickets are sold only in combination
with an organization's membership or a ticket for an organization's membership dinner and are not
included with any other raffle conducted under the exempt permit.
(e) Unused pull-tab and tipboard deals must be returned to the distributor within seven
working days after the end of the lawful gambling occasion. The distributor must accept and pay a
refund for all returns of unopened and undamaged deals returned under this paragraph.
(f) An organization that is exempt from taxation on purchases of pull-tabs and tipboards
under section 297E.02, subdivision 4, paragraph (b), clause (4), must return to the distributor any
tipboard or pull-tab deal no part of which is used at the lawful gambling occasion for which it
was purchased by the organization.
(g) The organization must maintain all required records of exempt gambling activity for
3-1/2 years.
    Subd. 3. Raffles; certain organizations. Sections 349.168, subdivision 4; and 349.211,
subdivision 3
, and the membership requirements of section 349.16, subdivision 2, paragraph (c),
do not apply to raffles conducted by an organization that directly or under contract to the state or a
political subdivision delivers health or social services and that is a 501(c)(3) organization if the
prizes awarded in the raffles are real or personal property donated by an individual, firm, or other
organization. The person who accounts for the gross receipts, expenses, and profits of the raffles
may be the same person who accounts for other funds of the organization.
    Subd. 4.[Repealed, 1994 c 633 art 2 s 21]
History: 1989 c 334 art 2 s 51; 1990 c 590 art 1 s 24; 1991 c 199 art 2 s 1; 1994 c 633 art 2
s 19; art 5 s 57-59; 1996 c 467 s 4,5; 1999 c 128 s 1; 2003 c 110 s 21,22; 1Sp2003 c 1 art 2 s
98,99; 2005 c 166 art 1 s 22,23; 2006 c 205 s 15,16

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes