Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - Legislature approves tax cut for bingo halls

Legislature approves tax cut for bingo halls

Apr 18, 2007 - 04:12:19 CDT

By DALE WETZEL
Associated Press Writer

When the Legislature banned smoking in most public buildings two years ago, bingo operators saw their customer numbers plummet. A Williston bingo hall closed, and players in the Red River Valley fled to Minnesota, where bingo establishments allow smoking.

On Tuesday, the North Dakota House tried to repair some of the damage with a tax cut that is expected to save bingo parlors almost $2.1 million over two years.

Representatives approved the measure on a voice vote. The Senate has already endorsed it, and the tax-cut bill now moves to Gov. John Hoeven's desk.

Under current law, bingo cards are subjected to North Dakota's 5 percent sales tax. The legislation approved Tuesday reworks the tax as an excise tax at a rate of 3 percent.

Senators defeated the bill last week after some complained the legislation did not extend a comparable tax break to pull-tab tickets. But the measure was later reconsidered and approved, 47-0.

Bingo is run by charities, and the three organizations with the largest gambling operations - the North Dakota Association for the Disabled in Grand Forks, Fargo's Plains Art Museum and Prairie Public Broadcasting Inc. of Fargo - all run bingo halls.

In the three-month period ending last Sept. 30, bingo players spent almost $8.6 million on bingo cards and operators paid almost $6.7 million in prizes. From the $1.9 million in profit, bingo operators paid $485,407 in sales taxes on bingo cards.

The September quarter's bingo-card wagering fell by $892,100, or 9.4 percent, from the gross revenues on bingo cards during the same three-month period a year ago, according to statistics from the North Dakota attorney general's office.

The bill is SB2225.

News > State

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Comments

PO3 wrote on Apr 18, 2007 6:50 PM:

" I played bingo one time, was all alone and they called all 75 numbers and I still lost. "

Shafted again! wrote on Apr 18, 2007 6:55 AM:

" So non-smokers get shafted once AGAIN by smokers! It isn't enough that we are driven out of smoked filled establishments but now we have to pay more taxes to make up that 2% tax break the legislature just gave away. This will only make me more adamant to cut out all smoking anywhere non-smokers can or want to frequent. Hopefully, the only place smokers will be able to get their nicotene fix to fill their black lungs will be in the bathrooms of their own homes. Unless, of coarse, there are other non-smoking family members who want to use that bathroom. "

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