Electronic gambling showing signs of turnaround

After a sluggish start, electronic pulltabs and bingo are showing signs of a turnaround in Minnesota. Sales are up nearly 50 percent statewide since January, thanks in part to bigger payouts, better technology and fresher games.

That's welcome news to charities that operate games, and means gambling taxes might pay for a substantial portion of the state's commitment to the new Minnesota Vikings stadium after all.

Back in 2012, the state of Minnesota projected there would be 15,000 devices in Minnesota's 2,500 bars, with every machine taking more than $200 in bets per day. Gambling sales taxes were expected to pay for the Vikings stadium in downtown Minneapolis. Three years later, there are only about 700 devices running. And they're in less than one bar in 10.

But in March games averaged $200 in bets per day — the first time that demand has approached the state's initial projections. March is historically the biggest month for gambling in Minnesota.

Better, cheaper technology is helping — as are some big payouts, like a $71,000 bingo win at a bar in Eveleth, Minn., earlier this month.

Jon Weaver, founder of Pilot Games, which supplies pulltabs and bingo games to charitable gambling operations, says a lot of little things have made a difference.

"Processor capacity for the game clients has increased, which has allowed us to do more 3D graphics and do more with the amount of memory and processing capability that we have," he said. "The type of graphics and what you see in our games is kind of a result of the advances of tablet technology over the last three years."

Weaver has gone from $1 million in bets last July to about $4.5 million in May. And he says the state's prediction of $100 million in bets per month doesn't seem as crazy as it did a few years ago.

"The players aren't getting tired of our product, and the pie is growing," he said.

Like a lot of gamblers, Julie Koslowsky was underwhelmed when electronic pulltabs first rolled out to bars in Minnesota. "They sucked," she said, as she played at Skarda's Bar in St. Paul, where the St. Paul Firefighters union manages a charitable gambling operation. Now, Koslowsky seems to prefer electronic games of chance over paper pulltabs. "I have done very well on these, yep," she said.

Tom Barret, executive director of the state's Gambling Control Board, says people are now beginning to accept the electronic version of pulltabs, and the industry is "getting in tune with what the customers are looking for, educating the customers."

Rocky Johnstone manages a charitable gambling operation, which raises money at five bars for the Granite City Lumberjacks, a junior league hockey team in St. Cloud. "Every one of our sites has grown," he said.

Installing the games is easier and the games are more reliable, Johnstone said.