Play pull-tabs at your favorite bar? There is a decent chance that game is being operated by a community sports entity and that you're contributing to what now serves as an essential fundraising source for many youth sports organizations in the state.Ĭharitable gambling is booming business in Minnesota, to the tune of $2.1 billion in total sales in the 2020 fiscal year. Similar arrangements are playing out all across Minnesota, as youth sports organizations in the state combined to generate nearly $100 million in net receipts on lawful gambling in 2020, a figure more than double the 2010 total. The money generated by pull-tabs and bingo at Jimmy's on this night and every night is crucial to hockey in that northern suburb. In this case, kids who participate in the White Bear Lake Hockey Association. The big winner, though, is someone else: youth sports in Minnesota. 'O-74' comes over the speaker, a woman shouts 'Bingo!' and an echo of groans follows. At table after table, customers at the Vadnais Heights establishment alternate between ripping open cardboard pull-tabs and dotting numbers on their bingo cards. The bingo game is being broadcast over the speakers, with large TVs flashing numbers as they are announced. The crowd is so large patrons sit in an overflow section near the door. This is bingo night, always a full house. Every table inside Jimmy's Food and Drink is taken by 7 p.m.

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