The smoking ban that was implemented some years ago in the USA had brought about some damage in the running of bingo halls. With this ban, many bingo halls had to close, which prompted smoking bingo players to head to Minnesota as smoking is permitted in public places here. This is why the North Dakota house decided to approve a tax reduction for bingo halls, and thus repair the damage this ban had brought about.

With this new legislation, bingo halls are expected to save as much as $2.1 million in two years. It was the Senate who endorsed this bill, which was then moved to Governor John Hoeven’s office. The present tax laws subject bingo games to 5% State sales tax while this bill changes this tax amount to 3%.

It was during the three month period that ended on September that the players in North Dakota had spent about $8.6 million on bingo cards and over $6.7 million was paid as prizes.

The $1.9 million that was thus generated as revenue ended up in $485,407 being used for paying sales taxes on bingo cards. This is a huge savings when compared to the amount that was paid before the passing of the bill about a year ago; $892,100.

We can only hope that a similar thing happens for the UK bingo scene, without radical changes in the way bingo halls are taxed they are sure to suffer in the long run, but as always only time will tell.

Bingo news from bingo reviewer.