It’s come to this over there in Minnesota. Clearly, this wasn’t what the state had in mind when it green lighted electronic pull tab and bingo games to help finance its $348 million share for the new Vikings Stadium.
Revenue from these games were expected to reach $34 million in 2012. When that number wasn’t reached, the estimates were slashed to $17 million. And when that number proved to be unattainable, it pretty much cratered to $1.7 million. That, in a nutshell, has been the unfortunate story of those electronic pull tab and bingo games in Minnesota.
It’s safe to say that revenue from these games will take a lot longer than expected. That’s why Gov. Mark Dayton decided to momentarily ditch plan A and launch an alternative stadium financing plan involving the re-routing of the state’s cigarette tax and using funds from closing a business tax loophole. Not only is this plan B an admission that those electronic pull tab and bingo games came with wildly overvalued estimates, but it also alleviates a lot of the pressure from the charities to come up with the expected revenue to help finance the new Vikings Stadium. That’s a relief for all parties concerned, particularly for Allied Charities, whose executive director Al Lund admitted as much to the Star Tribune. “We’ll now be able to focus on electronics and not have the pressure of having $34 million [in needed stadium tax revenues] looking us in the face every day,” Lund said at a Minnesota Gambling Control Board meeting earlier this week.
The charities are still expected to pay a lion’s share of the stadium tab. It just won’t be pressured into doing it ASAP, giving it more time to, hopefully, get the games off the ground. One of the ideas in kick-starting interest in the games is to host a nine-city state tour next month to promote the games. According to Allied Charities, the idea behind the tour is to let charities get a first-hand look at the products that are now available while also having time to answer questions about installation, customer response, and tax ramifications, among other things. Leaders from the Minnesota Gambling Control Board, the Minnesota Department of Revenue and the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association will be available to answer questions, as will be the e-games manufacturers and vendors, all of whom will be present during the tour.
“Our hope [for the tour] is we increase money for our [charity] missions by selling more games, which in turn provides more tax revenue for the state, and ultimately we hope enough revenue to pay for the stadium,” Lund told the Star Tribune.
No matter how ill-fated and rushed it was to use an untested form of charitable gaming, you can’t help but feel sorry for the people who are now burning their eyebrows trying to come up with a solution to get out of this mess. So while it’s within our bounds to call them out on this doomed plan, we do hope that there’s a resolution down the road, something that lifts a huge load off of a lot of people’s shoulders. If it’s through this nine-city tour, then so be it. Just make sure that this plan is more well thought out than the last one.
