2000 Minnesota Statutes

     349.18 Premises used for gambling. 

    Subdivision 1.    Lease or ownership required.  (a) An 
 organization may conduct lawful gambling only on premises it 
 owns or leases.  Leases must be on a form prescribed by the 
 board.  Except for leases entered into before August 1, 1994, 
 the term of the lease may not begin before the effective date of 
 the premises permit and must expire on the same day that the 
 premises permit expires.  Copies of all leases must be made 
 available to employees of the board and the division of alcohol 
 and gambling enforcement on request.  A lease may not provide 
 for payments determined directly or indirectly by the receipts 
 or profits from lawful gambling.  The board may prescribe by 
 rule limits on the amount of rent which an organization may pay 
 to a lessor for premises leased for lawful gambling provided 
 that no rule of the board may prescribe a limit of less than 
 $1,000 per month on rent paid for premises used for lawful 
 gambling other than bingo.  Any rule adopted by the board 
 limiting the amount of rent to be paid may only be effective for 
 leases entered into, or renewed, after the effective date of the 
 rule. 

    (b) No person, distributor, manufacturer, lessor, or 
 organization other than the licensed organization leasing the 
 space may conduct any activity other than the sale or serving of 
 food and beverages on the leased premises during times when 
 lawful gambling is being conducted on the premises. 

    (c) At a site where the leased premises consists of an area 
 on or behind a bar at which alcoholic beverages are sold and 
 employees of the lessor are employed by the organization as 
 pull-tab sellers at the site, pull-tabs and tipboard tickets may 
 be sold and redeemed by those employees at any place on or 
 behind the bar, but the tipboards and receptacles for pull-tabs 
 and cash drawers for lawful gambling receipts must be maintained 
 only within the leased premises. 

    (d) Employees of a lessor may participate in lawful 
 gambling on the premises provided (1) if pull-tabs or tipboards 
 are sold, the organization voluntarily posts, or is required to 
 post, the major prizes as specified in section 349.172; and (2) 
 any employee of the lessor participating in lawful gambling is 
 not a gambling employee for the organization conducting lawful 
 gambling on the premises. 

    (e) A gambling employee may purchase pull-tabs at the site 
 of the employee's place of employment provided: 

    (1) the organization voluntarily posts, or is required to 
 post, the major prizes for pull-tab or tipboard games as 
 specified in section 349.172; and 

    (2) the employee is not involved in the sale of pull-tabs 
 at that site. 

    (f) At a leased site where an organization uses a 
 paddlewheel consisting of 30 numbers or less or a tipboard 
 consisting of 30 tickets or less, tickets may be sold throughout 
 the permitted premises, but winning tickets must be redeemed, 
 the paddlewheel must be located, and the tipboard seal must be 
 opened within the leased premises. 

    Subd. 1a.    Storage of gambling equipment.  (a) 
 Gambling equipment owned by or in the possession of an 
 organization must be kept at a permitted premises owned or 
 leased by the organization, or at other storage sites within the 
 state that the organization has notified the board are being 
 used as gambling equipment storage sites.  At each storage site 
 or permitted premises, the organization must have the invoices 
 or true and correct copies of the invoices for the purchase of 
 all gambling equipment at the site or premises.  Gambling 
 equipment owned by an organization may not be kept at a 
 distributor's office, warehouse, storage unit, or other place of 
 the distributor's business.  

    (b) Gambling equipment, other than devices for selecting 
 bingo numbers, owned by an organization must be secured and kept 
 separate from gambling equipment owned by other persons, 
 organizations, distributors, or manufacturers. 

    (c) Paddlewheels must be covered or disabled when not in 
 use by the organization in the conduct of lawful gambling. 

    (d) Gambling equipment kept in violation of this 
 subdivision is contraband under section 349.2125.  

    (e) An organization may transport gambling equipment it 
 owns or possesses between approved gambling equipment storage 
 sites and to and from licensed distributors, if the invoices or 
 true and correct copies of the invoices for the organization's 
 acquisition of the gambling equipment accompany the gambling 
 equipment at all times and are available for inspection. 

    Subd. 2.    Exceptions.  (a) An organization may conduct 
 raffles on a premise it does not own or lease.  

    (b) An organization may, with the permission of the board, 
 conduct bingo on premises it does not own or lease for up to 12 
 consecutive days in a calendar year, in connection with a county 
 fair, the state fair, or a civic celebration.  

    (c) A licensed organization may, after compliance with 
 section 349.213, conduct lawful gambling on premises other than 
 the organization's permitted premises for one day per calendar 
 year or up to 12 consecutive days in a calendar year in 
 connection with a county fair, the state fair, a church 
 festival, or a civic celebration.  A lease for that time period 
 for the exempted premises must accompany the request to the 
 board. 

    Subd. 3.    Proceeds from rental.  Rental proceeds from 
 premises owned by an organization and leased to one or more 
 other organizations for the purposes of conducting lawful 
 gambling shall not be reported as gambling proceeds under this 
 chapter.  

    Subd. 4.    Prohibition.  (a) An organization may not 
 pay rent to itself or to any of its affiliates for use of space 
 for conducting lawful gambling. 

    (b) An organization may not pay rent for space for 
 conducting lawful gambling from any account or fund other than 
 the organization's separate gambling account. 

    Subd. 5.    Certain agreements prohibited.  An 
 organization may not enter into or be a party to a lending 
 agreement under which any of the organization's receipts from 
 lawful gambling are pledged as collateral for a loan.  

    HIST: 1976 c 261 s 8; 1984 c 502 art 12 s 12; 1986 c 467 s 18; 
 1987 c 327 s 17,18; 1989 c 334 art 2 s 27,28; 1990 c 590 art 1 s 
 31; 1991 c 233 s 109; 1991 c 336 art 2 s 26,27; 1994 c 633 art 5 
 s 74-76; 1996 c 467 s 6; 1997 c 129 art 2 s 15; 1998 c 322 s 4; 
 2000 c 300 s 5,6