Have a beer with that bingo card -- it's legal

Changes to allow drinking while playing bingo will make Minneapolis charities more competitive with other cities, backer says.

By Steve Brandt, Star Tribune

Last update: August 31, 2007 - 8:21 PM

You'll soon be able to mix drinking and daubing in Minneapolis.

The City Council voted 12-0 Friday to lift a longstanding ban on serving alcohol where bingo is played, a move that puts it in conformance with most of the rest of the state.

The proposal by Council Member Paul Ostrow was made at the request of the Northeast Lions Club and other charitable organizations. Places where charitable groups run bingo games have been forced by city ordinance to serve alcohol in separate rooms.

Tom Barrett, executive director of the Minnesota Gambling Control Board, said St. Paul remains the only city that he's aware of still segregating alcohol and bingo.

The change allows bars to offer bingo more easily at a time when some say the city's 2005 ban on indoor smoking in bars has hurt sales. Ostrow said city charities and bars will no longer be at a disadvantage with other communities offering bar bingo.

"It's kind of the rage now," Ostrow said.

The change is part of a package of amendments that move the city's regulation of charitable gambling closer to state law. Cities are allowed to impose more stringent regulations.

For example, Minneapolis limited an organization to three gambling locations. The Lions had to go to Fridley and St. Anthony to get added sites, and some of the proceeds were shared with groups in those communities. The Ostrow change raises the Minneapolis limit to 10 sites for a charitable group.

Another change allows games such as pulltabs and tipboards to be sold from the bar, rather than a separate booth, which supporters call a boon for smaller-volume pulltab sites.

John Schulte, a Lions member, said the change will help charitable organizations keep expenses below percentages required by the state.

Bingo, legalized by the 1945 Legislature for nonprofit groups, was the state's first venture into charitable gambling. But as other forms of gambling were approved, bingo was dwarfed by pulltabs, Indian casinos and the state lottery. It now makes up only $67 million of the $1.3 billion wagered on state-regulated charitable gambling, according to Barrett.

Schulte said that although bingo isn't as big a money-maker as pulltabs, it pulls people to bars and keeps them there longer, helping bar owners. They may also try pulltabs, he said.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438

Steve Brandt • sbrandt@startribune.com