BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) North Dakotans poured more than $1.3 billion into electronic pull tab machines in fiscal 2021, nearly double the amount spent in the previous fiscal year, state data shows. According to the state Attorney General’s Office, which oversees gambling in the state, gamblers already have wagered more than $563 million in the first four months of the current fiscal year into the machines that mimic Las Vegas-style games.
KVRR Local News
June 1, 2021
BISMARCK, N.D. – The coronavirus pandemic did not slow North Dakotans’ appetite for gambling, with more than $881 million wagered on games of chance in the state in fiscal 2020.
Data shows that’s a more than 50% increase from the previous year. North Dakota gambling regulator Deb McDaniel says “the pandemic has not hurt gaming whatsoever.”
Electronic pull tab gambling accounted for nearly $711 million of wagers in fiscal 2020.
That amount has grown nearly tenfold in just two years. McDaniel believes gambling wagers will easily exceed $1 billion in the current fiscal year.
Virus failed to curb North Dakota s appetite for gambling
JAMES MacPHERSON, Associated Press
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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) The coronavirus pandemic did not slow North Dakotans’ appetite for gambling, with more than $881 million wagered on games of chance in fiscal 2020, a more than 50% increase from the year before, data compiled for The Associated Press shows.
Even though games of chance at businesses were shut down for about a month beginning in late March last year to slow the spread of the coronavirus, “the pandemic has not hurt gaming whatsoever,” said Deb McDaniel, North Dakota’s top gambling regulator.
The meteoric rise of electronic pull tab gambling in the state accounted for nearly $711 million of wagers in fiscal 2020. It’s a sum that has grown nearly tenfold in just two years, data shows.