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Tim Nelson
St. Paul, Minn.

Bill would expand gaming to electronic bingo, pull tabs

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The state's bar and restaurant trade group is pushing for a gambling expansion again -- although with a new twist on the games they'd like to offer.

A bill in the Minnesota Senate would authorize electronic bingo and electronic pull tabs. It would also allow video gambling run by the lottery, rather than traditional slot machines.

Dan O'Gara, is head of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association, and spokesman for Profit Minnesota, the group promoting the idea.

"People have in their minds that they'd see a slot machine. Well, the technology has changed where some of these could be like an iPad," he said. "There's different forms and the technology keeps changing. But it would be new forms of gaming."

O'Gara said that the gambling expansion would put $630 million in the state's general fund.

The plan has four Republican sponsors, including Senate President Michelle Fischbach, as well as DFL state Sen. Linda Scheid, of Brooklyn Park. Similar efforts have made little headway in previous Legislative sessions.