- Why it dwarfs every other gaming form here
- 277 licensed nonprofits run charitable gaming in North Dakota. The 2017 e-tab legalization turned a small bingo-and-paper-pulltab industry into a $2.31 billion handle by FY2025. That is more money cycled through e-tabs than the entire 2023 Deadwood commercial casino market in South Dakota produced in seven years combined.
- Who gets the money
- After winning tickets pay back (about 90 percent of the handle), the remaining 10 percent is adjusted gross. The state takes a 10 percent gaming tax off that, and the rest splits 60 percent to operating costs and 40 percent to the charity’s public-spirited purpose. Trust account snapshots from the quarter ending June 2024 had Minot Junior Golf at $4.78 million, Mandan Baseball Club at $2.8 million, and Development Homes Inc. at more than $11 million.
- The Wall Street Journal flag
- A Wall Street Journal investigation by Neil Mehta examined 128 North Dakota nonprofits and found the median group roughly doubled its revenue between 2018 and 2023. Expenses grew about 50 percent over the same period. The story put national attention on whether a youth wrestling club clearing a few million a year still reads as a charity or as a bar operator with tax-exempt papers.
- The 2025 tax tweak
- HB 1465 raised the first AGP tax bracket from $50,000 to $100,000 and added a new $200,000+ bracket at $9,000 plus 12 percent on the excess. The law cut the bill for smaller operators while pulling a bit more from the high-volume sites. Net effect on the headline $2.31 billion: marginal. The industry kept growing through the tax rewrite.
