A recent change in state law has many worried about the future of Minnesota’s e-pull tab industry. Minnesota Legislature passed a bill in the 2023 session that includes a provision regarding e-pull tabs. New regulations are set to go into effect in January 2025.

“The big things are the open aisle feature’s gone. We knew that something that they were coming for that,” said Electronic Gaming Group Executive Director Sam Krueger. “Bonus games are gone and the free plays are gone, which really is a big part of these games. Those features have been a part of these games since 2012.”

A roundtable was held at the Duluth American Legion on Thursday to discuss these changes that event hosts believe will decrease the number of e-pull tab users.

“The big problem I think is going to happen is because the law is so ambiguous, the Gambling Control Board is going to have a hard time figuring out what they can actually allow as a regulator. And so if they can’t agree on what a game can look like, there just might not be games approved,” said Krueger.

Many present at the event brought up concerns from the perspective of charitable gambling.

“People don’t realize how much of that money is spread throughout the whole communities and it really affects everyone,” said Andrea Zupancich. “Every person, every business, every entity is going to be hit that much more now, that much less than can go to a charity.”