In 1960 in 1960, in 1960, the Alaska Legislature enacted regulations allowing certain games of chance as well as contests of skill for purposes of raising money for charities. The state does not participate in national lotteries, such as Powerball as well as Mega Millions, but does permit games such as pull-tabs and bingo that directly benefit charities.
Within the over 1,000 pull-tabs bars and shops in Alaska players can try to make cash. The winnings are donated to charitable organisations. The pull-tabs venues can turn into a place of community and they’re the most well-known type of gaming that is charitable in the state.
“You’ve been through slow days and busy days. It’s a slow time, but it’s also busy,” said Kayla Hanson Manager at River City Pull Tabs in Soldotna. “Most times the first day of each month is the busiest period. Every time there’s an influx of cash into the community, such as PFDs and income tax return.”
River City Pull Tabs helps aid in the support of The Soldotna Chamber of Commerce. The chamber utilizes the money to fund scholarships and help fund its weekly, free Music in the Park events in the summer.
Hanson stated that his experience playing pull-tabs could become as much about the people as it is about money.
“My mom ran this business for 25 years, before she died just two years later,” she said. “And since then, I’ve been here for…coming close to 10 years. Another man who is employed at the table has participated with bingo and pull-tabs for more than 15 years.”
Hanson stated that she gets the shop’s regular customers as well as new customers. The amount of time spent in the store varies from a couple of minutes to many hours.
The shop is set around a high counter, flanked by barstools, and Hanson at the center giving tickets. Pull-tabs, also referred to “rippies,” are individual pieces of paper that have perforated tabs which one can tear to reveal the symbols, and check to see if they correspond with winning combinations. There is a predetermined amount of winning tickets that can be won in the game.
At noon, the crowds began pouring into the cafe. One regular says the time he’s spending here is contingent on the amount of coffee available. Hanson has just finished making coffee in an entirely new pot. Hanson’s basset dog Cleo was spotted in the store and was immortalized in a photo that hangs on the wall. It’s the memorial to Hanson’s mother.
Department of Revenue Program Manager Marty Abel said there are more than 1,000 pull tabs permit issued within the state. Twenty-four of them are situated on the Kenai Peninsula. These locations are home to a range of reasons: Power Play Pull Tabs located in Soldotna is affiliated with the community’s hockey booster group and Easy Street Pull Tabs near the Kenai Safeway is linked with the Ninilchik Senior Center.
The pull-tabs aren’t only available in specific locations. For-profit companies can organize games for a charity permit holder or a licensed alcohol vendor may sell pull-tabs to an approved permittee. There are eight located on the peninsula.
Ken Alper directed the Alaska Tax Division from 2014 until 2018 when he was in charge of the charitable gaming program. Alper said that after the price of oil plummeted in the 1980s, charities were seeking new ways to raise funds in the face of declining state funding.
“Part of the method they worked around it was to create the system of charitable gaming that the state could regulate bingo, pull-tabs and that kind of things,” he said. “And all the players would be non-profit organizations.”
Alper said that pull-tabs have come to become the most favored, possibly because of their ease to play compared to more sophisticated games such as slot machines. Alper stated that pull-tabs account for 60-70 percent of the gaming that is charitable within the State.
The average net profit from pull-tabs across the state and the amount given to charities, is around $25 million annually. However, Alper stated that the total amount that the industry earns every year is greater than 10 times the amount, which is around 300 to 400 million a year. He added that most of the money is used to pay for operating expenses as well as labor. Around one percent is paid directly to state governments as tax.
Alper concerns about the control of all that cash. He says it’s become more complicated after the state budget was approved in which Governor. Mike Dunleavy vetoed huge swaths of the budget, which included for the Department of Revenue. Alper claimed that this cut the charitable gaming division to only one person which hasn’t increased since. The staff of the division didn’t respond to requests for an explanation.
“I must assume that they are not focusing on the smaller operators and let them operate independently because they do not have staff members to make sure that the smaller operators are actually filing their paperwork,” Alper said.
The purpose of the tax division’s staff is to ensure that charities are getting their due part of the gaming profits and he added that a state regulation focus should include having enough personnel to supervise the funds.
