North Dakota
Games of Chance A record of published figures

Compiled
15 August 2026
Revised
21 August 2026, revision 4. Revision history
Scope
State-licensed charitable gaming and tribal Class III gaming, fiscal years 2015 through 2025
Basis
Attorney General fiscal reports, Legislative Council memoranda, tribal-state compacts filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Century and Administrative Codes, Form 990 filings, NIGC revenue reports, and roll-call records
Position
None. Figures that could not be traced to a primary document are excluded from these plates and listed on Plate 14

Index map

Plate 01

North Dakota’s 53 counties, shaded by charitable gaming adjusted gross proceeds per resident in fiscal year 2022. The five tribal areas are hatched, the five tribal casinos are marked, and the ten largest cities are labelled. Select a county to read its record.

Boundaries  U.S. Census Bureau 2023 cartographic boundary files, counties, American Indian areas and places all at 1:500,000, projected to Albers equal area with standard parallels at 46°N and 48.5°N and simplified for display. Casino markers sit at the centroid of the Census place named in the operator’s address. Cities shown are the ten most populous in the state, sized from the Census Bureau’s 2024 Population Estimates, from Fargo at 136,285 to Wahpeton at 8,115. Figures  Cullen F. Goenner, Economic Impact Analysis of FY2022 North Dakota Charitable Gaming, prepared for the Charitable Gaming Association of North Dakota, August 2023, using data provided by the Office of Attorney General. Ranks are computed from the published figures. Tribal area boundaries are shown as published, clipped to the state line where an area continues into South Dakota, and do not represent a determination of jurisdiction. Only each area’s principal polygon is drawn; detached trust-land parcels smaller than 6 per cent of it are omitted for legibility.

Disposition of proceeds, fiscal year 2025

Plate 02

All games of chance conducted under state charitable gaming licences, fiscal year ended 30 June 2025.

    Reading these figures

    Gross proceeds count money wagered, including winnings replayed by the same player, so the figure behaves more like handle than like revenue. Adjusted gross proceeds of $256,615,556 is the comparable revenue measure. Eligible use contributions ($95,129,949) are lower than net proceeds ($102,647,277) because some net proceeds remain in trust accounts undisbursed at year end. This is the Attorney General's preliminary report.

    Electronic pull tabs as a component of the whole, fiscal year 2025
    MeasureAll gamesElectronic pull tabsShare
    Gross proceeds$2,524,757,027$2,312,210,71791.6%
    Prizes paid$2,237,494,272$2,069,077,80292.5%
    Adjusted gross proceeds$256,615,556$243,684,01495.0%
    Percent of hold—10.53%—
    Source  North Dakota Office of Attorney General, Games of Chance Report of Activities, Fiscal Year Ended June 2025 (preliminary, September 2025). Percentages computed from the reported dollar figures.

    Ten-year series

    Plate 03

    Gross proceeds and charitable disbursement, fiscal years 2015 through 2025. The two quantities are plotted separately because they are measured on different scales; a single chart with two axes would misstate their relationship.

    Gross proceeds, all games

    Rose from $291,114,359 to $2,524,757,027 across the period, an increase of 767 percent. Electronic pull tabs were authorised in 2017 and began operating in August 2018.

    Eligible use contributions as a share of gross proceeds

    Charitable disbursement rose from $18,077,289 to $95,129,949 over the same period, an increase of 426 percent. Because gross proceeds grew faster, disbursement fell as a share of the total.
    Underlying figures
    Fiscal yearGross proceedsEligible use contributionsShare
    Source  North Dakota Office of Attorney General, Games of Chance Report of Activities, Previous Annual Fiscal Year Reports 2015–2024 (preliminary, September 2025), and the fiscal year 2025 report cited on Plate 02. Shares computed from the reported dollar figures.

    Electronic pull tabs

    Plate 04

    Authorised by House Bill 1216 in 2017. Devices began operating 14 August 2018.

    Electronic pull tab gross proceeds by fiscal year

    In the fiscal year before authorisation, paper pull tabs generated $156,066,959 in gross proceeds. Electronic pull tab gross proceeds in fiscal year 2025 were 14.8 times that figure.
    A discrepancy between two state sources

    The Legislative Council's April 2026 memorandum reproduces this series shifted one year earlier than the Attorney General's own fiscal year labels: it reports $711,223,072 against fiscal year 2019, where the Attorney General's fiscal year 2019 report gives $349,653,609 and its fiscal year 2020 report gives $711,223,072. The figures on this plate follow the Attorney General's labels. The memorandum lists fiscal year 2020 as "not reported."

    Device specification, North Dakota Administrative Code section 99-01.3-06.1-02
    ProvisionLimit
    Maximum payout per deal90% of gross proceeds
    Maximum prize, single winning combination$500
    Maximum ticket price$2
    Tickets per deal2,000 – 15,000
    Deals commingled per game2
    Devices per site10
    Game titles selectable per device12
    Minimum age, posted on the device21
    Credit ticket voucher validitySame business day; void if it leaves the site
    Skill elementNone permitted in determining a prize
    Source  Attorney General fiscal year reports as cited on Plates 02 and 03; Legislative Council memorandum 27.9182.01000 (April 2026); N.D. Admin. Code § 99-01.3-06.1-02; House Bill 1216 (2017).

    Statutory architecture

    Plate 05

    What the constitution requires, what the statute defines, and the limits that apply to sites and devices.

    Section 25 of Article XI of the Constitution of North Dakota permits the Legislative Assembly to authorise nonprofit organisations to conduct games of chance "when the entire net proceeds of such games of chance are to be devoted to educational, charitable, patriotic, fraternal, religious, or other public-spirited uses."

    North Dakota Century Code section 53-06.1-11 permits an amount equal to 60 percent of adjusted gross proceeds per quarter to be deducted as allowable expenses, which "may be used for any purpose that does not violate gaming laws or rules." Net proceeds, the quantity the constitutional provision governs, are defined as the remaining 40 percent.

    ProvisionValueCitation
    Allowable expenses, share of adjusted gross proceeds60%NDCC 53-06.1-11
    Net proceeds, share of adjusted gross proceeds40%NDCC 53-06.1-11
    Gaming tax, adjusted gross proceeds to $50,0001%NDCC 53-06.1-12
    Gaming tax, adjusted gross proceeds above $50,000$500 + 12%NDCC 53-06.1-12
    Electronic pull tab devices per authorised site10NDCC 53-06.1-03(3)
    Sites per organisation15NDCC 53-06.1-03(3)
    Site rent, first five devices$75 / device / monthNDCC 53-06.1-11
    Site rent ceiling, all devices at one site$1,250 / monthNDCC 53-06.1-11
    Manufacturer licence fee$10,000 / yearNDCC 53-06.1-14
    Distributor licence fee$2,000 / yearNDCC 53-06.1-14
    Organisation licence fee$175 / city or countyNDCC 53-06.1-03(2)(b)
    Statutory transfer to gambling disorder fund$75,000NDCC 53-06.1-11.2

    Organisations that were operating more than 15 sites before 1 January 2023 are exempt from the site limit. State law does not prohibit a licensed organisation from paying rent to an authorised site that the organisation owns or is affiliated with. Section 2 of Senate Bill 2334 (2025) directs the Legislative Assembly's interim Judiciary Committee to study the ownership of alcoholic beverage establishments by licensed charitable gaming organisations; that study is in progress.

    Recorded counts
    CountFigureAs of
    Active gaming sites94027 February 2026
    Licences issued60327 February 2026
    Electronic pull tab devices5,25031 December 2024
    Sites with devices84631 December 2024
    Licensed charitable organisations337Fiscal year 2025
    Of those, classified public-spirited> 160Fiscal year 2025
    Source  N.D. Cent. Code ch. 53-06.1; Legislative Council memorandum 27.9182.01000 (April 2026); device, site and organisation counts as reported by the Attorney General's office in North Dakota Monitor, 13 January 2025.

    Eligible uses of net proceeds

    Plate 06

    What a licensed organisation may lawfully do with net proceeds. North Dakota Century Code § 53-06.1-11.1(2) requires that net proceeds be disbursed within the period prescribed by rule and for only these educational, charitable, patriotic, fraternal, religious or public-spirited uses. The list below is condensed from the statute; the full text is linked in the source credit.

    1. Economic development

      Stimulating and promoting state and community-based economic development programmes within the state which improve the quality of life of community residents.

    2. Tourism

      Developing, promoting and supporting tourism within a city, county, or the state.

    3. Education, culture and religion

      Uses benefiting an indefinite number of persons by bringing them under the influence of education, cultural programmes or religion, including:

      • Scholarships awarded through an open and fair selection process, deposited in a scholarship fund
      • Supplementary assistance to a public or private nonprofit educational institution registered with or accredited by any state
      • Assistance to libraries and museums
      • Assistance for the performing arts and humanities
      • Preservation of cultural heritage
      • Youth community, social welfare and athletic activities
      • Adult amateur athletic activities within the state, including team uniforms and equipment
      • Maintenance of places of public worship, or support of a body of communicants
      • Scientific research
    4. Relief of disease, suffering or constraint

      Uses benefiting an indefinite number of persons by relieving them of disease, suffering or constraint, including:

      • Assistance to an individual or family suffering from poverty or homelessness
      • Encouragement and enhancement of the active participation of the elderly in our society
      • Services to the abused
      • Services to persons with an addicted behaviour toward alcohol, gambling or drugs
      • Funds to combat juvenile delinquency and rehabilitate ex-offenders
      • Relief for the sick, diseased and terminally ill and their physical well-being
      • Funds for emergency relief and volunteer services
      • Funds to nonprofit nursing homes, nonprofit day care centres and nonprofit medical facilities
      • Social services and education programmes aimed at aiding emotionally and physically distressed, handicapped, elderly and underprivileged persons
      • Funds for crime prevention, fire protection and prevention, and public safety
      • Funds to relieve, improve and advance the physical and mental conditions, care and medical treatment, and health and welfare of injured or disabled veterans
    5. Memory and history of the dead

      Uses that perpetuate the memory and history of the dead.

    6. Founding principles

      Uses increasing comprehension of and devotion to the principles upon which the nation was founded, including disbursements to aid in teaching the principles of liberty, truth, justice and equality. The statute states that beauty pageants do not qualify.

    7. Public buildings and works

      The erection or maintenance of public buildings, facilities, utilities or waterworks.

    8. Lessening the burden of government

      Disbursements to an entity that is normally funded by a city, county, state or United States government, and disbursements directly to a government entity or its agency.

    9. Victims of explosion, fire, flood or storm

      Uses benefiting a definite number of persons who are the victims of loss of home or household possessions through explosion, fire, flood or storm, where the loss is not covered by insurance.

    10. Seriously disabling disease or injury

      Uses benefiting a definite number of persons suffering from a seriously disabling disease or injury causing severe loss of income or incurring extraordinary medical expense which is not covered by insurance.

    11. Chamber of commerce community projects

      Community service projects by chambers of commerce exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(6). A project qualifies if it develops or promotes public services, including education, housing, transportation, recreation, crime prevention, fire protection and prevention, safety, tourism and health. Uses that directly benefit a chamber of commerce do not qualify.

    12. Health, comfort or well-being of the community

      Uses for or of benefit to efforts in support of the health, comfort or well-being of the community, including:

      • Funds for adult bands, including drum and bugle corps
      • Funds for trade shows and conventions conducted in this state
      • Funds for nonprofit organisations operating a humane society, zoo, or fish or wildlife reproduction and habitat enhancement programme
      • Funds for public transportation, community celebration and recreation
      • Funds for preservation and cleanup of the environment
    13. Trust fund or foundation

      Where net proceeds are used toward the primary purpose of a charitable, educational, religious, public safety or public-spirited organisation, or for a veterans or public cemetery by a veterans organisation, and the organisation holds a final determination of exemption under section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(19), it may establish a special trust fund or foundation as a contingency for funding future programme services should it discontinue conducting games or dissolve.

    14. Unrelated fundraising activity

      Uses for a fundraising activity unrelated to an organisation's primary purpose, provided that the gross revenue from the activity is disbursed to the uses prescribed by this subsection.

    15. Statewide veterans' organisation expenses

      The administrative and programme management expenses of a statewide veterans' organisation.

    What is excluded

    Subsection 3 excludes the erection, acquisition, property taxes, special assessments, improvement, maintenance or repair of real property owned or leased by an organisation, unless the property is used exclusively for an eligible use, is used by a fraternal or veterans organisation, or is office or storage space under subsection 4. Subsection 4 bars the use of net proceeds for administrative or operating expenses involving the conduct of games, while allowing an organisation to designate space within property used for its primary purpose as gaming-related office or storage space. Subsection 5 permits a veterans organisation to use up to twenty per cent of net proceeds per quarter for food and beverages, including alcoholic beverages, in operating its club, and limits it to one club in one location.

    How disbursement is reported, and what is not published

    Organisations record each disbursement of net proceeds on Schedule C of the gaming tax return, entering the recipient, a description, the check amount and an eligible use code drawn from a coded list that follows the statutory groups above. The state therefore collects these disbursements by category. The Attorney General's fiscal year, quarterly and newsletter reports publish eligible use contributions only as a single figure, $95,129,948.87 for fiscal year 2025, with no breakdown by code or group. No published statewide breakdown was located; the absence is recorded on Plate 14.

    Source  N.D. Cent. Code ch. 53-06.1, § 53-06.1-11.1, restricted use of money in certain political activities and eligible uses of net proceeds. Reporting mechanism from the Office of Attorney General, Gaming Tax Return Instructions, Schedule C and the eligible use code table. Headings above are editorial labels for the statutory paragraphs, which are lettered but untitled in the law.

    Comparative regulation

    Plate 07

    State-licensed charitable gaming and tribal Class III gaming operate under separate legal regimes. Tribal provisions are taken from the amended compacts that took effect 19 December 2022, not from secondary summaries.

    SubjectCharitable gamingTribal Class III
    Legal basisN.D. Const. art. XI § 25; NDCC ch. 53-06.1Indian Gaming Regulatory Act; compact under NDCC 54-58-03
    RegulatorAttorney General's Gaming Division; State Gaming CommissionTribal gaming commission; National Indian Gaming Commission
    Operator eligibilityNonprofit organisations domiciled in North Dakota, active two years, primary purpose not gamingThe tribe
    Tax to the state1% / 12% of adjusted gross proceedsNone. State regulatory cost reimbursement capped at $10,000 per year (§ 25.1)
    Required use of proceedsNet proceeds, 40% of adjusted gross proceeds, to constitutionally specified usesNo percentage since December 2022. § 7.1 states intent only changed 2022
    Device limits10 per site; 15 sites per organisationNone, and none in any compact version (§ 3.6)
    Wager limitsBlackjack $25; poker $1; paddlewheel $20 per spinNone since December 2022; set at the tribe's discretion (§ 3.4) changed 2022
    Prize limitsElectronic pull tab $500 per combination; raffle $25,000None
    Payout ruleEach electronic pull tab deal may pay out no more than 90% of gross proceedsPayout ratios under the compact; state inspects
    Minimum age21 for pull tabs, electronic pull tabs, twenty-one, poker; 18 for quick shot bingo19, reduced from 21 in December 2022; 18 with military identification (§ 5.5) changed 2022
    HoursOnly when alcoholic beverages may be dispensedNo compact restriction
    Online gamingProhibited, including online raffle hostingMobile Class III gaming and sports wagering permitted within reservation boundaries (§ 3.2)
    Local approval of premisesCity or county must authorise each site and may impose stricter conditionsNone
    Gambling disorder funding$75,000 statutory transfer$25,000 per tribe per year (§ 29.1)
    State inspectionAttorney General examines books and recordsState inspects electronic games at least annually; access without notice (§§ 24.1, 24.3)
    Vendor licensingAttorney General licenses manufacturers and distributorsLicensed by the tribe under IGRA and NIGC regulations (§ 19.1)
    Self-exclusionNo state-administered programmeNot required by compact; operated by individual casinos
    Premises940 authorised sites5 casinos operated by five tribes
    On a widely circulated summary

    The American Gaming Association's February 2025 North Dakota fact sheet describes wager limits at section 3.2 of the compacts, a 10 percent economic development earmark, annual tribal reports to the state on that earmark, and a list of states in which vendors must hold a licence. None of those provisions appears in the compacts that took effect in December 2022. Section 3.2 is now titled Mobile Gaming. The fact sheet also states that tribes are not required to fund gambling addiction programmes; section 29.1 of each compact commits each tribe to $25,000 per year. The comparison above is drawn from the compact texts filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

    Source  Spirit Lake Tribe and State of North Dakota Tribal-State Gaming Compact, effective 19 December 2022, and the parallel compacts for the other four tribes, all filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs; N.D. Cent. Code ch. 53-06.1; ch. 54-58; Attorney General, Gaming; American Gaming Association fact sheet (February 2025).

    Compact provisions across four versions

    Plate 08

    The five tribal-state compacts were executed 7 October 1992 and amended in 1999, 2013 and 2022. Three provisions changed materially in the most recent amendment.

    Provision19921999 & 20132022
    Tribal spending requirement 25% of adjusted gross revenues to economic development and social welfare, with a state audit right (§ VII) At least 10% of net revenues to tribal economic development (§ 7.1) No percentage. "The parties intend that gaming revenues be used for promoting tribal economic development, self-sufficiency, and strong tribal governments, consistent with applicable federal law" (§ 7.1)
    Maximum wager, blackjack $50 per hand$100; $250 at two segregated tablesNone
    Maximum wager, electronic game $5 per bet$25 per betNone
    Maximum wager, roulette Not authorised$50 single betNone
    Minimum age 212119
    Device and facility limits NoneNoneNone
    State revenue share NoneNoneNone

    The 2022 text sets maximum wagers "at the discretion of the Tribe, except that maximum wagers shall not exceed the Tribe's internal accepted risk management factors." The compacts run ten years from 19 December 2022 and renew automatically in ten-year terms unless the tribe or the governor gives written notice in the final year, or the Legislative Assembly directs non-renewal by a two-thirds majority in each house.

    Legislative Council memorandum 25.9016.01000, dated August 2023, states that the five tribal casinos operate under compacts "last negotiated with the state in 2013." The 2022 amendments had taken effect eight months before that memorandum was published.

    Source  Compact texts filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 1992, 1999, 2013 and 2022; Federal Register notices at 87 FR 77628 and 87 FR 77633 (19 December 2022) and 78 FR 17428 (21 March 2013); Legislative Council memorandum 25.9016.01000 (August 2023).

    Licensed organisations

    Plate 09

    Every organisation licensed to conduct charitable gaming in fiscal year 2027, as published by the Attorney General current to 14 July 2026, set against the gaming income each reports to the Internal Revenue Service on Form 990. Two hundred and eighty-nine organisations hold a licence. One hundred and ninety carry a matched Form 990 filing, of which one hundred and sixty-five report gross gaming income above zero and twenty-five report none. Select any organisation to read its filing history.

    Licensed charitable gaming organisations, fiscal year 2027, with matched Form 990 gaming income
    Licence Address as published Year
    Reading the Form 990 columns

    An empty cell means no Form 990 filing carrying financial data could be matched to the organisation. It does not mean the organisation reported no gaming income. A figure of $0 means the opposite: the organisation filed, and reported its gaming income as nothing. Twenty-five do so, among them Ashley Lions Club and AMVETS Post No 9, and an organisation holding a gaming licence while reporting no gaming income on its return is more likely to be reporting that income on another line than to have conducted no gaming.

    Of the 289 licensees, 224 were matched to an employer identification number and 188 have a filing carrying financial data; 163 of those report gross gaming income above zero. Thirty-six were matched but have no filing with financial data published, and 65 could not be located in the Internal Revenue Service data at all, which is the expected result for an organisation small enough to file the 990-N electronic postcard, a return that carries no financial figures.

    Organisations do not report gaming income on a uniform basis. Some report gross of prizes and some net of prizes. One organisation reported $41.7 million in gross proceeds to the Attorney General for a year in which its Form 990 shows $4.5 million. Any organisation using the net convention is understated here. Total functional expenses cover the organisation's entire operation, not its gaming operation alone. Figures on this plate are what each organisation reported to the Internal Revenue Service and are not the Attorney General's figures; the two are compiled on different bases and do not reconcile.

    How the two lists were joined, and where the join is weakest

    The Attorney General publishes licensees by name and address, and the Internal Revenue Service records them by employer identification number, so the two had to be matched on name and place. Each row publishes the employer identification number it was matched to and links to that organisation's filing record, so any match can be checked and any error seen. A match was accepted only where a chapter, post or aerie number agreed, or where the name and the town both agreed; forty-six rows rest on an agreeing chapter number, one hundred and seventy-four on name and town, and four on town together with the kind of organisation. Where two licensees had an equal claim on one identification number, neither was matched, and where a licensee's name and the name on the return described arguably different bodies, no match was recorded.

    Fraternal organisations are the weakest case, because they register with the Internal Revenue Service under a national parent name and are separated only by a chapter number and a town. Three licensees are left unmatched rather than assigned a figure that might belong to another organisation: Fraternal Order of Eagles No 2451 at Mandan and Larimore Booster Club, each of which had a weaker claim than another licensee on the same identification number, and Lisbon Fire Department, for which the only fire organisation on the register at Lisbon is incorporated under a materially different name. Two further organisations carrying Form 990 gaming figures, Matpac Wrestling Club and Nodak Sportsmens Club, hold no fiscal year 2027 licence; they appear here without a licence number, and the reason is not determinable from published documents. That absence is recorded on Plate 14.

    What is omitted

    The Attorney General's list carries two further columns for each organisation, a named gaming manager and a telephone number. Both are omitted here. They are personal details of private individuals, they are not needed to establish whether an organisation holds a licence, and they remain available in the source document. Addresses are reproduced exactly as published and are not corrected or normalised.

    Licences  North Dakota Office of Attorney General, Gaming Organization Current Licensed Report, fiscal year 2027, current as of 14 July 2026. Records were read from the published document by text position rather than by line, because the document's text layer does not order its columns by row. Filings  IRS Form 990, Part VIII line 9a and Part IX, as published by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, drawn from the IRS annual extract of tax-exempt organisation financial data. Ratios are computed from the reported figures. The twenty figures previously shown on this plate were re-derived from the filings and all twenty agree.

    Distribution by county

    Plate 10

    Adjusted gross proceeds attributed to each of North Dakota's 53 counties in fiscal year 2022, and the same figure divided by 2020 census population. The same figures are mapped on Plate 01.

    All counties$222,527,028—

    Total across all counties, $222,527,028. The highest figure per resident is Kidder County at $597 against a population of 2,395; the lowest is Sioux County at $24. Cass County, the most populous, generated the largest absolute total at $41,453,672 and $225 per resident. These are fiscal year 2022 figures from a study commissioned by the Charitable Gaming Association of North Dakota, not current Attorney General reporting.

    Source  Cullen F. Goenner, Economic Impact Analysis of FY2022 North Dakota Charitable Gaming, prepared for the Charitable Gaming Association of North Dakota, August 2023, using data provided by the Office of Attorney General. The report states that its views are the author's and do not reflect those of the University of North Dakota or the State of North Dakota.

    Legislative record

    Plate 11

    Gaming measures before the Legislative Assembly, 2017 through 2025, with recorded outcomes. North Dakota meets in regular session in odd-numbered years; the next is January 2027.

    Show
    SessionMeasureSubjectRecorded outcome

    An exhaustive title-level screen of all bills in the 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025 regular sessions and the 2021 and 2026 special sessions found no measure proposing a geographic restriction on electronic pull tab devices near tribal casinos, and no measure applying tribal casino device testing standards to electronic pull tabs. Both were requested by tribal representatives before the interim Taxation Committee during the 2019–20 interim. A provision contained in the text of an unrelated bill would not be caught by a title-level screen.

    Source  Bill overview, action and vote records at ndlegis.gov for each cited measure; 2021 Legislative Management Final Report, pp. 231–232 and 275; 2025 Legislative Management Final Report, pp. 180–183.

    Enforcement actions

    Plate 12

    Administrative and criminal matters announced by the Attorney General or recorded in court proceedings.

    DateRespondentDisposition
    2 Mar 2026Beulah Convention and Visitors BureauLicence revoked; $50,000 civil penalty; $398,287 ordered returned to the gaming trust account. Findings included reported disbursements the organisation retained, and cheques written to "cash." Collateral penalties: NumberWorks LLC $2,500, Losson Leonard $2,500, Uncle Maddio's Pizza site authorisation suspended 90 days.
    4 Dec 2024East Main Investments LLCSite authorisation suspended one year, six months deferred on three years' probation, plus costs. Admitted violations of N.D. Admin. Code § 99-01.3-02-05.
    Jul 2023Western Distributing, Plains Gaming Distributing, Midwest Gaming Distributing$125,000 in fines, the statutory maximum, plus $36,355.50 in costs; deferred licence revocation on three years' probation; named individual and immediate family required to leave all ownership and management roles. All three remain licensed distributors in fiscal year 2027.
    2025Steven Lyon, West Fargo Hockey AssociationPleaded guilty to felony theft of $68,853 from electronic pull tab machines; 30 days' jail and 18 months' supervised probation; restitution paid in full.
    2017Amy Grieger, West Fargo Hockey bingoPleaded guilty to theft exceeding $10,000; 30 days' jail, three years' supervised probation.
    12 Mar 2026Dallas and Nichole Rice, Souris Valley BowmenCharged following investigators' tally of unauthorised transactions exceeding $183,525.62. Charges pending at the date of compilation.

    Testimony recorded in the 2025 Legislative Management Final Report states that "money laundering is nearly impossible to detect or regulate and is occurring in North Dakota, although the state cannot quantify how frequently it occurs or in what amounts," and describes "bars strongarming the charities, enticements to bars to acquire sites, third parties entering the market to manipulate the charities, and entities creating nonprofits to collect gaming money."

    Deb McDaniel, then director of the Gaming Division, told the interim Judiciary Committee on 7 March 2024: "We know it's happening, but can't quantify how frequently it occurs, or in what amounts." Describing a single case identified in the Fargo area, she said: "That's one report, on one device, we have 4,900 devices." Asked how it was found, she said: "It was a coincidence that we found it."

    Tribal Class III gaming

    Plate 13

    Five tribes hold Class III compacts with the state. No agency publishes revenue or employment figures for individual North Dakota tribal casinos.

    CasinoTribeLocationOpened
    Prairie Knights Casino & ResortStanding Rock Sioux TribeFort YatesDec 1993
    Spirit Lake Casino & ResortSpirit Lake TribeSt. MichaelJun 1996
    Sky Dancer Casino & ResortTurtle Mountain Band of Chippewa IndiansBelcourt1993
    4 Bears Casino & LodgeMandan, Hidatsa and Arikara NationNew TownJul 1993
    Dakota Magic Casino & HotelSisseton-Wahpeton OyateHankinsonAug 1999
    Gross gaming revenue, National Indian Gaming Commission Rapid City region. The region covers Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming across 44 operations; no state-level figure is published.
    Fiscal yearRegional gross gaming revenueChange
    2021$372,306,820+56.0%
    2022$406,169,922+9.1%
    2023$425,875,203+4.9%
    2024$443,861,592+4.2%
    2025$439,790,197−0.9%

    National tribal gross gaming revenue reached $46,162,783,570 in fiscal year 2025, up 5.3 percent across 545 audited operations. Rapid City was the only one of eight regions to record a decline. The Commission states that "the year-over-year GGR change by region should not be used as a direct indicator of the local economy in any specific region," and that reported figures "include revenue which may have been earned up to 16 months prior to publication."

    Statements on the record

    Mark Fox, Chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, to the Tribal and State Relations Committee at New Town, 24 October 2025, as recorded in the committee minutes: "Since the introduction of electronic pull tabs, the 4 Bears Casino and Lodge has lost 60 percent of its revenue and employees." The minutes record roughly 200 to 225 people employed. This is the Legislative Council's summary of his remarks rather than a transcript.

    Lonna Jackson-Street, Chairperson of the Spirit Lake Tribe, to the same committee at St. Michael, 13 May 2026: "The expansion of off-reservation gaming has reduced tribal gaming revenue." Vice-Chair Darren Walking Eagle stated that state monitoring of pull-tab machines is insufficient.

    Collette Brown, then Gaming Commission executive director for the Spirit Lake Tribe, reported a 40 percent revenue decline in September 2019 and a 42 percent decline in the casino's bottom line in January 2020. These are two successive readings of the same period rather than conflicting figures. Brown was elected to the House of Representatives for District 9 and took office 1 December 2024; she sits on the Tribal and State Relations Committee.

    The 2019–20 interim Judiciary Committee recorded testimony that revenue at tribal casinos had decreased 41 percent since electronic pull tabs were implemented, and that tribal officials "contended there may be a possible violation of the Gaming Compact between the state and the tribes." Neither committee made a recommendation.

    Employment and unemployment data

    No state or federal agency publishes employment figures for North Dakota tribal casinos. Bureau of Indian Affairs labour force reports cannot support a before-and-after comparison: the methodology changed between editions, some rows reprint prior-cycle data, and the 2013 edition states that its statistics "are not comparable to the statistics provided in any of the earlier American Indian Population and Labor Force Reports." The reports show employment at Fort Berthold rising from 447 to 1,459 between the 1991 and 1995 editions, with 4 Bears opening in 1993 employing 322 people. Over the same period the North Dakota portion of Standing Rock is recorded at 79 percent not employed in 1991, 86 percent in 1993 and 76 percent in 1995, with Prairie Knights having opened in December 1993.

    Not verified

    Plate 14

    Figures and claims that circulate in coverage of this subject and could not be traced to a primary document. They are excluded from the plates above and recorded here so that their absence is deliberate rather than silent.

    1. Combined tribal casino payroll of $80 million

      Traces to a spoken statement by Collette Brown at a conference in Bismarck in January 2020, reported by Forum News Service on 3 February 2020. No study, audit or filing supports it. When carried into legislative testimony in February 2021 it was rendered as "the Spirit Lake Tribe's five casinos"; the Spirit Lake Tribe operates one casino.

    2. Tribal casino income down by nearly 50 percent

      Appears only in search summaries of an outlet whose pages could not be retrieved. The traceable figures are 40 percent (September 2019), 41 percent (2019–20 interim Judiciary Committee) and 42 percent (January 2020), all specific to the Spirit Lake Tribe, and 60 percent specific to 4 Bears (October 2025).

    3. Sky Dancer employment falling from about 450 to between 250 and 300

      Appears in a Forum News Service report of 21 October 2022 as the reporter's own sentence rather than as a quotation from a named speaker. The named speaker, a casino employee, is quoted saying "We are not able to compete with the e-tab machines." Independent anchors are 420 employees at the 2012 reopening and an undated figure of 300.

    4. Whether charitable gaming organisations fall outside the Bank Secrecy Act

      31 CFR 1010.100(t) defines a casino as an entity licensed "as such" with gross annual gaming revenue above $1 million. Charitable gaming organisations are licensed as charities under NDCC ch. 53-06.1. No FinCEN ruling addressing charitable gaming operators was located, so the question is recorded as open rather than answered.

    5. Whether the ballot measure rejected in December 1989 covered devices equivalent to electronic pull tabs

      Legislative Council records that the Legislative Assembly authorised electronic video gaming in 1989 and that voters rejected it at a special election on 5 December 1989. The ballot language was not obtained, so no equivalence between that measure and the devices authorised in 2017 is asserted here.

    6. National Indian Gaming Association state figures for North Dakota

      Three attempts to read the association's 2019 annual report state summary produced three mutually inconsistent sets of figures. None is reproduced.

    7. Whether the Senate sponsor recorded as "Armstrong" on House Bill 1216 (2017) is the current governor

      Kelly Armstrong served in the State Senate in 2017. The bill listing records no first name. The identification is not asserted.

    8. Two figures in a commissioned economic impact study

      The study prepared for the Charitable Gaming Association of North Dakota reports $73.9 million in charitable contributions and $19,856,122 in gaming taxes for fiscal year 2022. The Attorney General's report for the same year records $56,006,095 in eligible use contributions and $21,453,224 in gaming tax. The difference is unreconciled.

    9. Employment at Dakota Magic Casino, any year

      No figure was located in any primary or secondary source. Commercial data-broker estimates for this and other North Dakota casinos are mutually inconsistent and are not used.

    10. A state performance audit of the charitable gaming programme

      No State Auditor or legislative performance audit of the programme was located. No economic impact study of North Dakota tribal gaming was located from any state agency or university.

    11. How charitable gaming net proceeds are distributed among the eligible use categories

      Licensed organisations code every disbursement of net proceeds to an eligible use on Schedule C of the gaming tax return, so the state holds this data by category. No published breakdown was located. The Attorney General's fiscal year reports, the 2015 to 2024 annual report, every quarterly comparative report, and the Gaming Insights newsletters each publish eligible use contributions as a single figure only. Legislative Council memorandum 27.9182.01000 records that the 2023-24 interim Judiciary Committee study "reviewed charitable gaming proceeds and the eligible uses of gaming proceeds" but reproduces no category figures. The statutory categories are set out on Plate 06; the amounts against them are not asserted here.

    12. Why two organisations reporting substantial gaming income hold no current licence

      Matpac Wrestling Club and Nodak Sportsmens Club, both of Bismarck, report gross gaming income of $74,961,950 and $22,750,268 on their latest Form 990 filings. Neither appears in the Attorney General's licensed organisation report for fiscal year 2027. A lapsed licence, a change of name, a merger, and a Form 990 name that differs from the licensed name are all consistent with the published record, and no document distinguishing between them was located. Both are shown on Plate 09 without a licence number.

    Note  An entry on this plate records that a claim could not be traced to a primary document as of the compilation date. It is not a finding that the claim is false.

    Sources

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    Primary documents underlying these plates.

    Revisions

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    Every change to these plates since first publication, most recent first. Data marks a figure that changed, was added or was withdrawn, and names the superseded value. Source marks a citation added or replaced. Display marks layout, typography or map behaviour with no change to any figure.

    1. rev. 421 August 2026
      • DataPlates 09 and 10 are merged into a single searchable plate, Licensed organisations. Form 990 gaming figures now cover 163 licensees where the previous plate showed 20, and each organisation carries its full filing history from 2010 onward.
      • DataTwo organisations exceeding most of the previous list were absent from it and are now included: Share House Inc at $60,168,830 and Prairie Public Broadcasting Inc at $53,015,821, both fiscal year 2023. The former plate presented twenty organisations by reported gaming revenue without stating that the selection was not exhaustive.
      • DataAll twenty figures previously published were re-derived from the underlying filings. All twenty agree, on gross gaming income and on total functional expenses.
      • DataEach matched organisation now publishes the employer identification number it was joined to and the basis of that join, and Plate 14 gained an entry on the two organisations that report gaming income but hold no current licence.
      • SourceForm 990 figures are drawn from the IRS annual extract as published by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, replacing figures previously transcribed individually.
      • DisplayPlates formerly numbered 11 to 15 are now numbered 10 to 14. Section identifiers are unchanged, and the identifier of the former licence register still resolves to the merged plate, so existing links to either plate continue to work.
    2. rev. 321 August 2026
      • DataNew Plate 06, eligible uses of net proceeds, setting out the fifteen statutory categories and the three restrictions in N.D. Cent. Code § 53-06.1-11.1.
      • DataNew Plate 10, licence register, listing all 289 organisations holding a charitable gaming licence for fiscal year 2027. The gaming manager and telephone columns carried in the source are omitted.
      • DataPlate 15 gained an entry recording that the distribution of net proceeds across the eligible use categories is collected by the state and not published.
      • SourceThree documents added to Sources: the FY2027 licensed organisation report, the gaming tax return instructions, and the Attorney General's gaming publications index.
      • DisplayTwo plates inserted, so plates formerly numbered 06 to 13 are now numbered 07 to 15. Section identifiers are unchanged, so an existing link to any plate still resolves to the same plate.
    3. rev. 221 August 2026
      • DisplayThis revision history added, and a Revised line added to the masthead. Every later change to these plates is recorded here.
    4. rev. 115 August 2026
      • DataFirst publication. Plates 01 to 13 issued, covering fiscal years 2015 through 2025.
    Citation  A revision number identifies the state of these plates at a point in time and is not reissued once published. Where a figure is superseded, the earlier value stays recorded above rather than being removed, so a citation to an earlier revision remains checkable.