Limitation on the value of prizes awarded for a county agricultural society to be exempt from the licensure requirement modified.

A bill for an act

relating to lawful gambling; modifying the limitation on the value of prizes awarded

for a county agricultural society to be exempt from the licensure requirement;

amending Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 349.166, subdivision 2.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 349.166, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

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, subdivision 4
;
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
new text begin
, or if the organization is a county agricultural society, as defined under

section 38.01, the organization does not award more than $100,000 in prizes for lawful

gambling in a calendar year
new text end
;

(3) the organization submits a board-prescribed application and pays a fee of $100 to

the board for each gambling occasion, and receives an exempt permit number from the

board. If the application is postmarked or received less than 30 days before the gambling

occasion, the fee is $150 for that application. The application must include the date and

location of the occasion, the types of lawful gambling to be conducted, and the prizes to be

awarded;

(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) No more than one organization exempted or excluded from licensing requirements

may conduct an individual raffle.

(1) Exempted or excluded organizations may not combine the use of raffle tickets.

(2) Raffle tickets must not be attached to or combined with other exempted or excluded

organizations' raffle tickets and must be sold separately from other exempted or excluded

organizations' raffle tickets.

(c) If the organization fails to file a timely report as required by paragraph (a), clause

(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.

(d) Merchandise prizes must be valued at their fair market value.

(e) 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.

(f) 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.

(g) The organization must maintain all required records of exempt gambling activity for

3-1/2 years.