North Dakota Gaming Alliance

Action Alert

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 14:09:00 GMT

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** Action Alert on HB 1524 and SB 2390
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Today, both the House and Senate have gaming bills that are to be voted on by each respective body.

In the House, HB 1524 which would reduce the maximum payouts to 82% on E-Tabs is up for a vote. You can copy and paste the house emails below into an email and tell them to support the committee recommendation of a DO NOT PASS recommendation on the bill. Here is a link to the bill for reference also. https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-1056-01000.pdf

bertanderson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:bertanderson@ndlegis.gov) ; dickanderson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dickanderson@ndlegis.gov) ; kanderson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:kanderson@ndlegis.gov) ; lbahl@ndlegis.gov (mailto:lbahl@ndlegis.gov) ; lbellew@ndlegis.gov (mailto:lbellew@ndlegis.gov) ; mbeltz@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mbeltz@ndlegis.gov) ; gdbosch@ndlegis.gov (mailto:gdbosch@ndlegis.gov) ; jboschee@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jboschee@ndlegis.gov) ; mbrandenburg@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mbrandenburg@ndlegis.gov) ; colechristensen@ndlegis.gov (mailto:colechristensen@ndlegis.gov) ; jchristy@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jchristy@ndlegis.gov) ; lconmy@ndlegis.gov (mailto:lconmy@ndlegis.gov) ; clairecory@ndlegis.gov (mailto:clairecory@ndlegis.gov) ; hdakane@ndlegis.gov (mailto:hdakane@ndlegis.gov) ; jdavis@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jdavis@ndlegis.gov) ; gdobervich@ndlegis.gov (mailto:gdobervich@ndlegis.gov) ; jddockter@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jddockter@ndlegis.gov) ; sdyk@ndlegis.gov (mailto:sdyk@ndlegis.gov) ; cfegley@ndlegis.gov
(mailto:cfegley@ndlegis.gov) ; lfinleydeville@ndlegis.gov (mailto:lfinleydeville@ndlegis.gov) ; jayfisher@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jayfisher@ndlegis.gov) ; kfrelich@ndlegis.gov (mailto:kfrelich@ndlegis.gov) ; jgrueneich@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jgrueneich@ndlegis.gov) ; lbhager@ndlegis.gov (mailto:lbhager@ndlegis.gov) ; jhagert@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jhagert@ndlegis.gov) ; krhanson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:krhanson@ndlegis.gov) ; phatlestad@ndlegis.gov (mailto:phatlestad@ndlegis.gov) ; dorihauck@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dorihauck@ndlegis.gov) ; cheadland@ndlegis.gov (mailto:cheadland@ndlegis.gov) ; mheilman@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mheilman@ndlegis.gov) ; pdheinert@ndlegis.gov (mailto:pdheinert@ndlegis.gov) ; dhenderson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dhenderson@ndlegis.gov) ; dholle@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dholle@ndlegis.gov) ; jahoverson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jahoverson@ndlegis.gov) ; zmista@ndlegis.gov (mailto:zmista@ndlegis.gov) ; djohnson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:djohnson@ndlegis.gov) ; jjohnson@ndlegis.gov
(mailto:jjohnson@ndlegis.gov) ; jjonas@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jjonas@ndlegis.gov) ; kkarls@ndlegis.gov (mailto:kkarls@ndlegis.gov) ; jkasper@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jkasper@ndlegis.gov) ; kkempenich@ndlegis.gov (mailto:kkempenich@ndlegis.gov) ; dhkiefert@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dhkiefert@ndlegis.gov) ; lklemin@ndlegis.gov (mailto:lklemin@ndlegis.gov) ; bkoppelman@ndlegis.gov (mailto:bkoppelman@ndlegis.gov) ; gkreidt@ndlegis.gov (mailto:gkreidt@ndlegis.gov) ; mlefor@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mlefor@ndlegis.gov) ; dlongmuir@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dlongmuir@ndlegis.gov) ; slouser@ndlegis.gov (mailto:slouser@ndlegis.gov) ; amarschall@ndlegis.gov (mailto:amarschall@ndlegis.gov) ; bmartinson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:bmartinson@ndlegis.gov) ; cmcleod@ndlegis.gov (mailto:cmcleod@ndlegis.gov) ; lmeier@ndlegis.gov (mailto:lmeier@ndlegis.gov) ; amitskog@ndlegis.gov (mailto:amitskog@ndlegis.gov) ; crmock@ndlegis.gov (mailto:crmock@ndlegis.gov) ; dmonson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dmonson@ndlegis.gov) ; mmotschenbacher@ndlegis.gov
(mailto:mmotschenbacher@ndlegis.gov) ; emurphy@ndlegis.gov (mailto:emurphy@ndlegis.gov) ; mrnathe@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mrnathe@ndlegis.gov) ; jonelson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jonelson@ndlegis.gov) ; anovak@ndlegis.gov (mailto:anovak@ndlegis.gov) ; eobrien@ndlegis.gov (mailto:eobrien@ndlegis.gov) ; jolson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jolson@ndlegis.gov) ; solson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:solson@ndlegis.gov) ; mostlie@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mostlie@ndlegis.gov) ; tkporter@ndlegis.gov (mailto:tkporter@ndlegis.gov) ; bprichard@ndlegis.gov (mailto:bprichard@ndlegis.gov) ; bpyle@ndlegis.gov (mailto:bpyle@ndlegis.gov) ; dwrichter@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dwrichter@ndlegis.gov) ; nrios@ndlegis.gov (mailto:nrios@ndlegis.gov) ; sroersjones@ndlegis.gov (mailto:sroersjones@ndlegis.gov) ; kmrohr@ndlegis.gov (mailto:kmrohr@ndlegis.gov) ; druby@ndlegis.gov (mailto:druby@ndlegis.gov) ; mruby@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mruby@ndlegis.gov) ; masanford@ndlegis.gov (mailto:masanford@ndlegis.gov) ; blsatrom@ndlegis.gov
(mailto:blsatrom@ndlegis.gov) ; mischatz@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mischatz@ndlegis.gov) ; aschauer@ndlegis.gov (mailto:aschauer@ndlegis.gov) ; mschneider@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mschneider@ndlegis.gov) ; rschobinger@ndlegis.gov (mailto:rschobinger@ndlegis.gov) ; cschreiberbeck@ndlegis.gov (mailto:cschreiberbeck@ndlegis.gov) ; vsteiner@ndlegis.gov (mailto:vsteiner@ndlegis.gov) ; gstemen@ndlegis.gov (mailto:gstemen@ndlegis.gov) ; mstrinden@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mstrinden@ndlegis.gov) ; sswiontek@ndlegis.gov (mailto:sswiontek@ndlegis.gov) ; paulthomas@ndlegis.gov (mailto:paulthomas@ndlegis.gov) ; ktimmons@ndlegis.gov (mailto:ktimmons@ndlegis.gov) ; nptoman@ndlegis.gov (mailto:nptoman@ndlegis.gov) ; btveit@ndlegis.gov (mailto:btveit@ndlegis.gov) ; lvanwinkle@ndlegis.gov (mailto:lvanwinkle@ndlegis.gov) ; smvetter@ndlegis.gov (mailto:smvetter@ndlegis.gov) ; dwvigesaa@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dwvigesaa@ndlegis.gov) ; swagner@ndlegis.gov (mailto:swagner@ndlegis.gov) ; jwarrey@ndlegis.gov
(mailto:jwarrey@ndlegis.gov) ; rweisz@ndlegis.gov (mailto:rweisz@ndlegis.gov)

The Senate will act on SB 2390 which left committee with a 5-2 Do Not Pass recommendation. This is the bill that reduces the payout on E-Tabs to 88%, requires a portion of net proceeds to childrens advocacy programs (which we agree is an admirable cause, but no charity should be forced to spend their net proceeds anywhere) and also adjusts the allowable expenses percentages. You can email the Senate on this bill and also ask them to support the committee recommendation of a Do Not Pass and ask them to vote no on this bill. Here is a copy of the amended bill. http://file:///C:/Users/ndgal/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/3YQ2A2SS/Amended%20SB%202390.pdf

Here are all the email addresses below to the Senate which you can copy and paste

maxtman@ndlegis.gov (mailto:maxtman@ndlegis.gov) ; jbarta@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jbarta@ndlegis.gov) ; tbeard@ndlegis.gov (mailto:tbeard@ndlegis.gov) ; bbekkedahl@ndlegis.gov (mailto:bbekkedahl@ndlegis.gov) ; kboehm@ndlegis.gov (mailto:kboehm@ndlegis.gov) ; rbraunberger@ndlegis.gov (mailto:rbraunberger@ndlegis.gov) ; raburckhard@ndlegis.gov (mailto:raburckhard@ndlegis.gov) ; scleary@ndlegis.gov (mailto:scleary@ndlegis.gov) ; dclemens@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dclemens@ndlegis.gov) ; cconley@ndlegis.gov (mailto:cconley@ndlegis.gov) ; kdavison@ndlegis.gov (mailto:kdavison@ndlegis.gov) ; ddever@ndlegis.gov (mailto:ddever@ndlegis.gov) ; mdwyer@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mdwyer@ndlegis.gov) ; jayelkin@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jayelkin@ndlegis.gov) ; rerbele@ndlegis.gov (mailto:rerbele@ndlegis.gov) ; jestenson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jestenson@ndlegis.gov) ; khogan@ndlegis.gov (mailto:khogan@ndlegis.gov) ; dhogue@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dhogue@ndlegis.gov) ; jkannianen@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jkannianen@ndlegis.gov) ;
gkessel@ndlegis.gov (mailto:gkessel@ndlegis.gov) ; jklein@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jklein@ndlegis.gov) ; kkrebsbach@ndlegis.gov (mailto:kkrebsbach@ndlegis.gov) ; ckreun@ndlegis.gov (mailto:ckreun@ndlegis.gov) ; douglarsen@ndlegis.gov (mailto:douglarsen@ndlegis.gov) ; dlarson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dlarson@ndlegis.gov) ; jlee@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jlee@ndlegis.gov) ; rlemm@ndlegis.gov (mailto:rlemm@ndlegis.gov) ; lluick@ndlegis.gov (mailto:lluick@ndlegis.gov) ; jmagrum@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jmagrum@ndlegis.gov) ; tmathern@ndlegis.gov (mailto:tmathern@ndlegis.gov) ; scottmeyer@ndlegis.gov (mailto:scottmeyer@ndlegis.gov) ; jmyrdal@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jmyrdal@ndlegis.gov) ; dpatten@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dpatten@ndlegis.gov) ; bpaulson@ndlegis.gov (mailto:bpaulson@ndlegis.gov) ; mpiepkorn@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mpiepkorn@ndlegis.gov) ; jroers@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jroers@ndlegis.gov) ; kroers@ndlegis.gov (mailto:kroers@ndlegis.gov) ; drummel@ndlegis.gov (mailto:drummel@ndlegis.gov) ; drust@ndlegis.gov
(mailto:drust@ndlegis.gov) ; dgschaible@ndlegis.gov (mailto:dgschaible@ndlegis.gov) ; jlsickler@ndlegis.gov (mailto:jlsickler@ndlegis.gov) ; rsorvaag@ndlegis.gov (mailto:rsorvaag@ndlegis.gov) ; svedaa@ndlegis.gov (mailto:svedaa@ndlegis.gov) ; tmwanzek@ndlegis.gov (mailto:tmwanzek@ndlegis.gov) ; markweber@ndlegis.gov (mailto:markweber@ndlegis.gov) ; kweston@ndlegis.gov (mailto:kweston@ndlegis.gov) ; mwobbema@ndlegis.gov (mailto:mwobbema@ndlegis.gov)

Either tonight or tomorrow, we will send out our weekly update and next week’s calendar. Thank you again for all your support! We need to keep this winning streak going!

Scott Meske
ND Gaming Alliance
608 516 9307
scottjmeske@gmail.com

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The post Action Alert appeared first on North Dakota Gaming Alliance .

Talking points on bills

Sat, 04 Feb 2023 22:16:00 GMT

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TALKING POINTS FOR BILLS

Several of you have asked us to provide to you some talking points that you can email legislators with regarding some of the current and upcoming bills. Below are some examples that you can refer to when contacting them, and the specific bill numbers. Please let us know if you have any questions.

HB 1296 which is the site authorization bill. (in support)
1) We think it is wrong that a city or county should choose what charity goes into a site. Unless there have been violations, we believe that the city or county should allow a charity and site should be able to mutually decide what is best for their business, and the site authorizations should be approved without interference from the city/county.
2) Sometime a charity doesn’t fit with a site’s views, and the site should be able to choose which charity they want operating in their site.
3) Patrons get to know and trust charitable organization employees, and can help the business be successful. It should be forced to change charities at the discretion of a city/county.

HB 1484 which would define an eligible site as “.An authorized site includes a location that dispenses alcoholic beverages”. (in support) This would codify into century code the definition, and is in response to SB 2304 which would disallow sites who allow anyone under 21, and add additional language which would further impede any of you who have gaming in golf courses, convenience stores, gas stations, restaurants, etc.
1) Each city is different and serves different communities. Not all cities have 30 sites where charities can conduct gaming. Some have 1-2 sites that could be properly licensed. This is a local control issue and each city should be able to decide which businesses can conduct gaming, as long as they serve alcohol.

HB 1497 which would limit the amount of sites from 25 to 10 that a charity can operate in. (in opposition)
1) Some charities that operate in more than 10 sites are serving smaller communities that don’t have dozens of different charities they can choose from. Sometime there is only 1-2 charities in their area.
2) This will not accomplish the mission of this bill which is to break up charities and give other charities more opportunity. Many of these other charities won’t even go into these smaller towns due to the amount of driving and extra work it would take to operate in several small cities, and very possibly would not support the local communities that they would end up serving.

HB 1524 which moves the maximum payout on E-Tabs to 82% (in opposition)
1) Reducing the payout to 82% will increase the amount of dollars to charities for a VERY short amount of time. However, as players stop winning due to the fact they aren’t getting paid out as often and continue losing more money, they will stop playing the games and dollars to charities will be SIGNIFICANTLY reduced. This will be the death of the charitable gaming industry.
2) Most casinos run at approximately 92-93% payouts. If players aren’t winning in the sites, they will start migrating to other games, likely online or travelling out of state to do their gaming which will reduce tax dollars paid to the state.

SB 2304 which takes away the ability to conduct gaming in restaurants, golf courses, and any other facility that allows patrons under 21. (in opposition)
1) You can use the same arguments as 1484, except in opposition. This is a local control issue and will eliminate gaming in restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores, golf courses, etc…
2) Each community is different as we stated before and should be able to make decisions on their own as to what facilities should be allowed to have gaming as long as they serve alcohol.

SB 2390 which reduces the payouts to 88% and also requires charities to designate some of their dollars to certain programs.
1) You can use the same arguments as above regarding reduced payouts.
2) Charities should be able to designate their charitable dollars to whatever causes they choose (as to best serve their local communities)

We hope this helps. If you need any more information, please reach out. Thanks everyone!!

Scott Meske
scottjmeske@gmail.com
608 516 9307

Our mailing address is:
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Talking points on bills

Sat, 04 Feb 2023 22:16:00 GMT

TALKING POINTS FOR BILLS

We hope this helps. If you need any more information, please reach out. Thanks everyone!!

Scott Meske
scottjmeske@gmail.com
608 516 9307

Our mailing address is:
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Charitable Gaming Gives Back in the News

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 19:27:00 GMT

If you’d like to see this wonderful story about how charitable gaming gives back, see this link:

https://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2022/02/aggie-foundation-partnership-supports-youth-initiatives/

The post Charitable Gaming Gives Back in the News appeared first on North Dakota Gaming Alliance .

ND Legislative Update for Charitable Gaming Laws

Sat, 05 Mar 2022 16:38:00 GMT

Good afternoon NDGA members!

We have several items to update you on and of course, would appreciate your feedback on any of these.

First, we are still patiently awaiting an update as to when the ND Gaming Advisory Committee and ND Gaming Commission will be meeting to finalize new administrative rules. They are delayed due to the passing of Wayne Stenehjem which is completely understandable. We will update you all as to when that meeting will be rescheduled and will send out the results after they meet.

On March 1 ^st , I met with Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner. We discussed charitable gaming in detail and ND Gaming Alliance made it clear that at this time, there are no further restrictions on charitable gaming that we will be able to support. I know the opposition is pushing hard which has been proven by the interim committee meetings that we have been keeping track of. They are adamant about pushing machine limits and we stood strong that we would not be willing to compromise on that issue and several others that were discussed. We will continue to keep the line of communication open with our elected leaders and continue to promote to them the benefits that charitable gaming provides for our state and our local communities. It was a very good meeting with Senator Wardner and we look forward to continuing the conversation with him and others in the legislature.

On that note, ND Gaming Alliance has opened what we call our “Charitable Gaming Lobbying Fund”. I will be contacting you all individually over the next couple of weeks to explain this to you and what our goals are. In short, we are going to need resources going into the next session and it is going to be vital that we get participation from all our members to ensure that the charitable gaming industry is protected for many years to come.

ND Gaming Alliance is also looking for volunteers. I have started a list of members that will be willing to come to Bismarck to testify on bills affecting our industry. If you or any of your employees, board members, bookkeepers, gaming managers, etc. would be able to do that, please reply to this and I’ll get you added to that list. Legislators listen to lobbyists all day every day. I have been told by many that testimony given by someone that is directly impacted by legislation rather than a lobbyist is more effective. If you can’t make it to Bismarck, the legislature is also allowing testimony via Zoom. ND Gaming Alliance will host a training later this year for anyone who is interested in attending. This will be open to anyone who would like to testify but would like some simple suggestions and guidance on how to properly testify. The exact date and time of the training will be decided closer to the session starting and we will inform you ahead of time when it will be.

Finally, membership continues to grow at a nice pace. We will continue to grow that number to ensure that our voice is well heard during the session. Thank you all for continuing to support our organization and our industry.

As always, please reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns. We are here to help.

Mike Motschenbacher

ND Gaming Alliance

701-471-9014

ndgalliance@gmail.com

www.ndgamingalliance.com

The post ND Legislative Update for Charitable Gaming Laws appeared first on North Dakota Gaming Alliance .

ND Gaming Alliance Update 1-14-22

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 16:10:00 GMT

Good morning, everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas and a safe New Year.

January 8 ^th celebrated our official one-year anniversary. It has been a wonderful and very successful year. In the past year, we have gone from a brand new organization to the “go-to” place for charitable gaming issues. A huge thank you to all of you who have helped make our organization what it is. We have a very positive outlook for 2022 and expect large growth again, especially with the threats that are facing our industry.

Our preferred vendors would like to send out a thank you also. Several of you have moved some of your services over to them and they appreciate the support. All of our preferred vendors have renewed for 2022 and look forward to continuing to service your organizations. I’m glad to hear they are all serving your needs well. For those of you that have not considered utilizing any of them, here is the list of preferred vendors which are out there that offer discounts to our members. https://ndgamingalliance.com/member-benefits/

Some major news. I recently announced that I will be running for the ND House of Representatives. I of course will remain on as Executive Director if elected. It will be good to have an expert in charitable gaming as a statewide elected official. There is a definite need to have someone who knows the ups and downs of our industry to help share all the good things that charitable gaming does for our state. We will be hiring a lobbyist to continue to represent the charitable gaming industry during the 2023 session. The lobbyist was always in our plans anyways as we are expecting an influx of laws to be considered aimed at reducing E-Tab machines in North Dakota which you all know would be crippling. We will do everything in our power to prevent this from happening.

In our last update, I mentioned that the North Dakota Gaming Advisory committee was going to be meeting the week of Jan 24-28 to review and consider the new Administrative Rules that have been written. I reached out to the committee, and it sounds like the public meeting has been delayed and won’t happen that week. We will keep you all updated as to when that is rescheduled. I know several of you want to attend that so we will let you know as soon as we know the dates that it will be rescheduled.

ND Gaming Alliance will be sending out a mailing here in the next few days to all the charities with a “deal” to bring on more of your sites as members. Please keep an eye out for that. We will send it out both via USPS and via email.

In the meantime, please continue to reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns. We are always here to help your organization and look forward to another great year.

Sincerely,

Mike Motschenbacher

ND Gaming Alliance

701-471-9014

ndgalliance@gmail.com

www.ndgamingalliance.com

The post ND Gaming Alliance Update 1-14-22 appeared first on North Dakota Gaming Alliance .

ND Charitable Gaming News Update

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 15:50:00 GMT

Good morning, all! Hope all is well in the charitable gaming world.

Since our last update, we continue to hear more chatter about intentions from groups that are looking to do everything they can to reduce the number of dollars and gameplay which benefit charitable gaming in ND. Many of the resources they are collecting are coming from out of state which is greatly disturbing. We are not going to sit back and take this lightly. In fact, we will be well prepared to defend our industry and will more than likely be building some funds to set aside strictly for the next legislative session as it will be vitally important to be both ahead of the game and financially prepared. We will keep you informed as we hear more and what our plans will be.

On November 18 ^th , the Gaming Advisory Committee met to discuss changes to administrative rules. Attached you will find all the proposed changes. We have read through these and will be expressing some concerns as these head into public hearings which will be held the week of January 24-28. We will keep you posted with the exact times and location for those public hearings. ND Gaming Alliance will be attending of course. After the public hearings, the proposed changes go to the gaming commission the week of Feb 7-11. They are then sent back to the Attorney General’s office for final review and then will be forwarded to Legislative Council. If the timeline stays true, these changes would go into effect July 1 of 2022. If anyone has any questions or concerns regarding any of these proposed changes, please reach out. One of our biggest concerns as always is “unintended consequences” so we will be reviewing each change one by one to make sure that none of these changes will negatively impact our industry.

Although membership in the ND Gaming Alliance continues to grow, we can always use more members. We would appreciate any referrals that any of you would be willing to give. We have reached out to nearly every charity, veterans’ organization, manufacturer, distributor, fraternal organization and hospitality venue in the state at least once and the response has been good. However, many of the organizations still are not members and sometimes a little push from a current member could help convince them to join our organization. If you have good relations with another group in our industry, it would be fantastic if you could mention our organization to them and reiterate the fact that we are out there fighting for them and how important it is that we continue to grow. We thank you in advance for your help.

As always, please reach out to us with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have. We are here to help. Hoping you all have a blessed Christmas and a safe New Year. Our next update will come after the holidays unless of course, some major issues come up in the meantime. Thank you, everyone.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING PDFs:

Mike Motschenbacher

ND Gaming Alliance

701-471-9014

ndgalliance@gmail.com

www.ndgamingalliance.com

The post ND Charitable Gaming News Update appeared first on North Dakota Gaming Alliance .

Post-Session Update from the Charitable Gaming Industry of ND

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 15:46:00 GMT

In our last update, we stated that the special session was going to be quiet regarding charitable gaming. Well, that proved to be untrue. Yesterday morning, an amendment was written which one of the legislators was going to attach to HB 1509 which was a simple technical correction bill. The amendment is attached for you to review. This amendment would have been detrimental to the charitable gaming industry. ND Gaming Alliance successfully lobbied the committee and the legislator who was planning on introducing the amendment and in the end, the representative agreed to not introduce the proposed amendment to HB 1509.

As I stated in our last update also, there are groups of people in our state that despise charitable gaming and will do anything they can to reduce or eliminate gaming in North Dakota. These groups are not going away which further exemplifies the need for our organization to continue to grow and to protect our industry. The 2023 session which is less than 14 months away will be here before we know it. Without a doubt, these groups are going to come in charging and well-funded. We are going to continue to have to stick together as a group and use our collective power to beat back any more attempts that will surely be aimed at crippling charitable gaming in North Dakota.

ND Gaming Alliance is going to continue to monitor the special session to make sure no more amendments are attempted which would hurt our industry. Thank you to those of you that I reached out to quickly yesterday and who helped make phone calls and emails. It surely made a difference.

In the meantime, we will continue to alert you to any happenings in our industry and look forward to continuing to serve you all. Thank you.

The post Post-Session Update from the Charitable Gaming Industry of ND appeared first on North Dakota Gaming Alliance .

Weekly Update from the ND Gaming Alliance

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 15:44:00 GMT

Good afternoon members! Hope all is well. Time for another bi-weekly update.

Over the past couple of weeks, ND Gaming Alliance has been diligently watching interim committees and preparing for next week’s legislative special session. Although the special session appears to be fairly quiet for our association, the interim committees continue to raise eyebrows.

It is becoming quite obvious that there are several people in the state that simply do not appreciate charitable gaming and the positive effects it has on our communities. Millions of dollars are distributed to communities by the charities that are involved in gaming. These dollars have purchased fire trucks, built baseball fields, supported youth sports, provided dollars for disease research, helped disabled veterans, and the list goes on. To see how many dollars have been given out, you can go to this link. They are updating their system so this is Q4 of 2020 numbers, but the dollars are staggering and I would doubt if the legislature could provide these funds to all these necessary items. https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/sites/ag/files/documents/Gaming/2020-12-QuarterlyReport.pdf

Even though all these charitable dollars are going to good causes, there are groups out there that want to limit, decrease, or even shut down charitable gaming. We won’t let that happen. However, the 2023 session will be upon us sooner than later, and the ND Gaming Alliance will be prepared and ready to defend our industry so we can continue to support those in need. We are nearing our membership goal for 2021 and continue to add new members every week. By the time the 2023 session is here, ND Gaming Alliance will have a membership that our legislators will need to listen to. We won’t let outside interests hinder our business and charities.

We would like to thank all of you that responded to our last update with ideas regarding the rent structure. We had several of you reach out, and we have used all those ideas to work towards a solution to improve the rent structure. We will continue to work with ND Hospitality Association prior to the next session on this matter.

Please continue to reach out with any questions or concerns you have. It’s always great hearing from you and we are always here to help. Thank you, everyone. Have a profitable week!

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Member Updates from the ND Gaming Alliance

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 15:43:00 GMT

Good Thursday afternoon everyone. Hope this finds you all well.

As usual, ND Gaming Alliance wants to include all our members in what we are actively doing and invite all of you to reply and continue to give suggestions. I can tell you the majority of the items we work on are at the suggestion of our members and invite you all to continue to express to us your concerns in the charitable gaming industry and areas in which we can help.

Currently, we continue to work with the AG office to clean up some loopholes and to possibly have some clarification of some administrative rules. This is an ongoing process and as I stated, we encourage you all to share with us any changes you would like to see.

ND Gaming Alliance also recently met with the ND Hospitality Association Board of Directors on the issue of improving the rent structure for establishments for the E-Tab machines. The goal of the meeting was to find common ground between charities and hospitality so we could work together during the next legislative session rather than oppose each other. To prepare for that meeting, I reached out to about a dozen of our members (both charities and hospitality) to gather information. There was much concern that smaller charities would not be able to absorb increases as easily as larger charities and the ND Gaming Alliance will keep this line of communication open with all those involved in our industry. I highly encourage all our members to reach out to us and express their thoughts regarding this issue. Our organization exists to make charitable gaming as good as possible in our state and to mutually benefit hospitality, charities, veteran’s organizations, fraternal, manufacturers, and distributors. If we all work together, we can accomplish that. Here is a link where you can send in your comments. Just scroll to the bottom of the main page where you can submit them. https://ndgamingalliance.com/

Recently, the Tribal and State Relations Committee met at Spirit Lake Tribe to discuss several items. Here is that link if you would like to watch yourself. The section regarding gaming begins at the 1:30 pm mark where you can click and view. The whole clip is ½ hour long, but I’d just like to point out some of the things that were said and that the ND Gaming Alliance will continue to follow. https://video.legis.nd.gov/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20210901/-1/21581

The ND Gaming Alliance will agree with the tribes in North Dakota that charitable gaming needs to be fair and regulated. But some points in that video that was of interest and/or concern were the following.

The first few minutes there were a couple of comments in regards to lack of regulation and at the 1:42 and 1:49 marks, there was the insinuation of “illegal activity” as the chairman stated. This was disturbing to us as you all know how regulated the charitable gaming industry is and to date, we have not been made aware of any illegal activity of which they stated.

At 1:45, the chairman stated “limitations to the number of E-Tab machines” as a possible solution. As you all know, there are already limitations on E-Tab machines as to the number of machines that can be in a facility, the number of sites that a charity can have, and so forth.

At 1:54, Senator Oehlke referred to a “five-minute waiting period” to slow down the play of the machines. To be honest, we are not sure what he means by that but will be reaching out to him to find out.

At 1:59, Representative Jones states that “there will be some sort of slowdown” which of course concerns us as to what his intentions are or what kind of slowdown he is referring to.

ND Gaming Alliance will continue to monitor this and any other subjects regarding charitable gaming.

We are also close to adding a “News” section to our website to further provide you all with any current news in the charitable gaming industry. Keep an eye out for that!

As usual, please reach out to us with any questions. We always enjoy hearing from our members and continue to work hard to have our industry thrive. Until next time, hope you all have a wonderful profitable day.

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