N.D. Admin. Code 99-01.3-12-02

Current through Supplement No. 394, October, 2024

Section 99-01.3-12-02 - use and requirements of an organization

1. A licensed organization may operate a pull-tab dispensing device when the organization's employee is on duty and may have a bar employee redeem a winning pull tab when the organization's employee is or is not on duty.

2. If a distributor's or manufacturer's security seal is broken on a deal's container before the deal is used, an organization shall return the deal to the distributor.

3. The following rules must be posted or made available to players. If made available to players in the area where pull-tab dispensing device activity is conducted, the rules must be in the form of a handout that is easily visible to the players and may not be a copy of the gaming law and rules:

a. Restricting access to or delaying using credits on a device is prohibited;

b. A winning pull tab must be redeemed within fifteen minutes;

c. A pull tab cannot be redeemed if it has been taken from the gaming area; and

d. If a person knowingly solicits, provides, or receives any inside information, by any person, by any means, or knowingly uses a fraudulent scheme or technique to cheat or skim involving pull tabs, regardless of the amount gained, the offense is a class C felony punishable by a five thousand dollar fine or five years in jail or both.

4. An organization shall maintain custody of all keys to a device.

5. An organization shall withdraw currency from a device within a seven-calendar-day interim period.

6. An organization shall use the current recordkeeping system unless approval is obtained from the attorney general for use of another system.

7. An organization shall have a rental agreement conforming to section 99-01.3-02-06.

8. An organization shall maintain an access log prescribed by the attorney general. A person who accesses a device for any reason shall record the access and initial the log. When a person does a test vend which affects the accounting meters or a test validation of currency, the person shall record the value of pull tabs and currency validated. An organization shall retain the log in a device during the quarter of activity.

9. An organization may provide a bar with a temporary loan to enable a bar employee to redeem a winning pull tab. A loan and any increase in the loan must be made by check payable to the bar and be interest free. An organization may not access, count, or take custody of the loaned money. The duration of the loan must be until an organization discontinues conducting pull tabs at a site through a device. When the bar repays the loan, the organization shall deposit the funds in its gaming account and the deposit slip must reference the site, source of funds, and amount. The amount reimbursed to a bar must equal the value of redeemed winning pull tabs which the bar provides an organization. An organization employee may not use a bar's cash on hand for redeeming a winning pull tab.

10. An organization may not provide an independent service technician a key to access a device regardless if the device is leased.

11. If a theft of currency occurs, an organization shall record the currency and pull-tab accounting meters or print a cash withdrawal report and audit the game. The organization shall provide a copy of all of this information to a local law enforcement agency and the attorney general.

12. When a game is closed:

a. The game must be reported on a tax return for the site at which it was closed;

b. An employee shall buy back all remaining redeemed winning pull tabs from a bar; and

c. If the game has unsold pull tabs, these cannot be put back into play.

13. An organization or employee may not:

a. Modify the assembly or operational functions of a device;

b. Use or continue to conduct a deal of pull tabs after being notified by a distributor of a ban or recall of the deal;

c. Designate a pull tab to entitle a player who buys it with a prize provided by a bar or distributor; or

d. Intentionally test vend currency or pull tabs to synchronize nonresettable accounting meters.

14. A game must be conducted and played through a device as follows:

a. The deals must be identical, except for a game serial number and color of the pull tabs;

b. An employee shall securely attach a master flare to the interior or exterior of a device, or on an adjacent wall, so the flare's information is visible to players. When a deal is added, the deal's flare may be retained in a device or at an organization's office;

c. An employee shall place at least one complete and one-third to one-half of a second deal in a device at the same time at the start of a game. The remaining pull tabs of any partial deal must be stored onsite and added to the game before any additional deals may be added. If during the quarter a deal is added to a game and the complete deal's tickets will not fit in a device, any remaining pull tabs of the partial deal must be stored onsite and added to the game before any additional deals may be added;

d. At the start of a game the pull tabs must be randomly placed in all the stacking columns. To add pull tabs to a game, an employee shall first add any remaining pull tabs of a deal previously partially placed in the device or pull tabs of a new deal by randomly mixing these pull tabs with the pull tabs in the device;

e. If a deal is to be added to a game and an organization does not have a deal to add, the organization shall temporarily suspend the game until it procures a deal. However, if the organization is unable to procure a deal from the distributors and all the top tier winning pull tabs have been redeemed, it may close the game;

f. If a site's total gross proceeds of pull tabs averages twelve thousand five hundred dollars or less per quarter or if a site has not previously had gaming, a game may be closed anytime if all top tier winning pull tabs have been redeemed;

g. Except as provided by subdivision h, if a site's total gross proceeds of pull tabs averages more than twelve thousand five hundred dollars per quarter, no game may be closed unless an organization discontinues gaming at the site, or all the top tier winning pull tabs have been redeemed and a game has been in play for twenty-five consecutive calendar days;

h. An organization shall close a game by the end of a quarter. If all top tier winning pull tabs have been redeemed or low-level switches in all but two columns of a device have been triggered, an organization may close a game for the quarter within fourteen calendar days before the end of that quarter. An organization may start a new game for the next quarter within fourteen calendar days before the next quarter begins. However, an organization may not start a new game and end that game within this fourteen-calendar-day period. When a game is being closed, an employee shall post a sign stating that the game is being sold out;

i. If the percent-of-accuracy of all the games involving a device for a site for the previous quarter was less than ninety-eight and one-half percent, and a cash shortage of more than one hundred dollars, an employee who did not conduct the game, have sole access to the games in play, cash banks, and receipts or cash profit for the games, shall do a weekly interim audit of the games at the site for up to twelve continuous weeks or until the organization determines, resolves, and documents the cause. One of the weekly interim audits may be the audit required by subsection 7 of section 99-01.3-03-10. An organization shall start the weekly audits no later than the date on which its tax return for the quarter was filed with the attorney general. However, if games involving a device are conducted without a bar employee redeeming a winning pull tab, pull-tab games not involving a device are also conducted, and the combined percent-of-accuracy of all pull-tab games at the site for the previous quarter was ninety-eight and one-half percent or greater, no weekly interim audit is required. Percent-of-accuracy is computed as cash profit divided by adjusted gross proceeds; and

j. An organization may transfer a device from a site to another site or rotate a device among sites. If an organization discontinues gaming at a site, it may close a game or transfer the game to a device at another site. If a game is in the process of being conducted through a device, an organization may not transfer the game to a jar bar.

15. Two or more organizations may use devices at the same site on different days of the week provided the organizations use different names of games in the devices and the bar uses separate cash banks.

N.D. Admin Code 99-01.3-12-02

Effective May 1, 1998; amended effective July 1, 2000; July 1, 2002; July 1, 2004; October 1, 2006; July 1, 2010.

Amended by Administrative Rules Supplement 2016-360, April 2016, effective 4/1/2016.

Amended by Administrative Rules Supplement 369, July 2018, effective 7/1/2018.

Amended by Administrative Rules Supplement 2022-387, January 2023, effective 1/1/2023.

General Authority: NDCC 53-06.1-01.1

Law Implemented: NDCC 53-06.1-01.1, 53-06.1-06