What's New                                        Specific What's New information, by month

For Exempt/Excluded activity information, click here

 

September 24, 2020

Notice of proposed Gambling Control Board By-Law change of minimum for a Quorum (section 4.5 Quorum)

 

Current By-Laws

 

If anyone would like to submit any comments regarding the proposed By-Laws changes, please email steve.pederesen@state.mn.us with your comments and whether or not you would like to present your comments at either the upcoming October 19, 2020 Board meeting at which time these proposed changes will be presented to the Board, or at the November 16, 2020 Board meeting at which time the vote on the proposed By-Laws changes will take place.

 

September 22, 2020

Board Resumes Routine Premises Inspections

Gambling Control Board staff periodically conduct routine inspections of premises (sites) permitted to conduct lawful gambling. In addition to these routine inspections, inspections are often conducted to investigate allegations of non-compliance. Since the onset of COVID-19, the conduct of routine inspections has been limited. However, we’ve recently resumed random routine site inspections throughout the state.

 

Announced and Unannounced Premises Inspections

Sometimes Board staff conducts “announced” inspections, meaning that the organization knows when someone from our agency will be coming. Announced inspections are typically conducted by the Compliance Auditor (Specialist) assigned to that organization and the organization’s gambling manager is often present. However, Board staff also frequently conducts unannounced site inspections. For these inspections, the organization and the site don’t know that an inspection will be conducted until the inspector walks through the door.

 

Although some unannounced inspections are conducted by the Compliance Auditor assigned to that organization, increasingly they’re conducted by someone from the Board’s Investigations section. The Investigations section recently added two Field Agent positions whose primary focus is to conduct unannounced premises inspections and other on-site audits.

 

Identification

• Compliance Auditors (Specialists) will present their Gambling Control Board-issued photo identification cards when conducting site inspections.

• Field Agents and Investigators will present a Gambling Control Board badge to verify their identity.

 

Social Distancing Guidelines

The sole purpose of Gambling Control Board site inspections is to monitor compliance with lawful gambling statutes and rules. If Board staff does witness other potentially illegal activity (including, but not limited to social distancing guidelines), the information may be referred to the appropriate enforcement agency. However, staff does not have the authority to make arrests or to issue criminal citations for any violations unrelated to the conduct of lawful gambling.

 

The safety of our staff and those they interact with during an inspection is a top priority. Our Field Agents and Compliance Auditors are expected to follow all Federal, State and local COVID-19 social distancing guidelines when conducting inspections and we expect that your organization’s employees and lessors will do the same.

 

Access to Premises and Organization Records

State law requires licensed organizations to grant Gambling Control Board staff access to locations where lawful gambling is conducted to inspect gambling records and the premises itself. Also, when a bar or restaurant owner (lessor) signs a lease with an organization, the lessor agrees to give the Board and its agents access to the premises permit site during the lessor’s business hours.

 

Please encourage your employees and your site lessors to cooperate with Board staff. Our staff is trained to conduct inspections in a professional and respectful manner. If you have concerns about our site inspection program, feel free to contact us at 651-539-1900 or by email at gcb.complaints@state.mn.us.

 

September 18, 2020

To Attend Remote Board Meeting via WebEx:  Prior to the 10:00 a.m. meeting start time, call 855-282-6330.  At the prompt, enter meeting ID 146 334 6131, followed by the # key.  You may be asked for extra information, but you may hit the # key again and you will be taken to the meeting.

 

To Participate in Public Comment:  If you wish to provide public comment at the next meeting please submit, by 4:30 p.m. the prior Friday, your name, who you represent, and your comment to steve.pedersen@state.mn.us.

September 8, 2020

Mankato Office Temporarily Closed

The Gambling Control Board’s office at 430 South Broad Street in Mankato has closed.  The owner of that space decided not to renew our lease.  Until we can find suitable office space (at a comparable price), our Mankato-based compliance specialists will be temporarily working from home.  However, you may mail or drop off items for them at this address:

 

Gambling Control Board

1819 Adams Street

#402

Mankato, MN 56001

 

Note that this is a UPS store – not a Post Office.  DO NOT use the words “PO Box” when writing this address as the items will not be delivered to the proper address.  Write the address exactly as shown above. Using a UPS store allows our clientele to drop off items, such as requested pull-tab games for review, without paying postage.

 

The telephone number of our two Mankato compliance specialists will remain the same.  Nichole Engeswick may be reached at (507) 344-7033 and Rochelle Poehler may be reached at (507) 344-7036.

 

Sports Tipboards – Cancelled Games

We’ve recently received calls from a few gambling managers wondering what to do if their organization has sold chances on a sports tipboard game and that game then gets cancelled. Given the COVID19 situation, it’s a definite possibility and the gambling managers want to be prepared for it.

 

If you’ve sold sports tipboard chances (either tickets or spaces on the flare/“board”) for a game that’s been cancelled, players are entitled to a refund for the chances they’ve purchased.  The sports tipboard game must be closed and it may not be reused for any future games.

 

The organization must post a sign stating that the game has been cancelled and that refunds will be given for the chances purchased.  Refunds must be claimed within seven (7) days of the date the game was scheduled to be played. This is the same number of days players would have to claim their prizes if the game had been played.

 

To claim a refund for a game with tickets, the player must present the ticket(s) that they’ve purchased, and the refunded tickets must be retained by the organization.  For games without tickets, the player must identify themselves as someone who has purchased a space on the tipboard (sellers should check IDs of people they don’t know) and the seller must then write “REFUNDED” in the corresponding spaces on the flare.

When reporting the sports tipboard on month-end schedules and summary forms, the value of the refunded chances should be reported as “unsold tickets” along with the value of chances that remained unsold when the sporting event was cancelled.  For example, if all 100 $5 tickets had been sold and 80 tickets were refunded, the game’s ideal gross receipts would be $500, the value of unsold tickets would be $400, the prizes paid would be $0, and the net receipts would be $100.