Get AI Briefings, Transcripts & Alerts on Local & National Government Meetings — Forever.
Committee continues sectional on HB 386 to allow electronic pull tabs and tighten distribution rules
Summary
HB 386 would modernize Alaska’s charitable gaming law to permit electronic pull tabs, raise prize caps, require independent testing, and prohibit vertical integration between manufacturers, distributors and permittees. Committee completed sections 21–30 and will resume the sectional at a future meeting.
Senator Jesse Bjorkman and staff (Conrad Jackson) continued a detailed sectional of House Bill 386, which would update Alaska’s charitable gaming statutes to allow electronic pull tabs played on tablets while preserving limits on where and to whom pull tabs may be sold.
The sponsor said the bill modernizes reporting and enforcement, increases certain maximum prize limits (including doubling monthly and annual door‑prize values in some sections), and requires that electronic pull tab systems be tested and certified by an independent laboratory before distribution. The bill also raises the minimum share guaranteed to some permittees: operators would be required to pay a multi‑beneficiary permit holder at least 30% of adjusted gross receipts (up from 15%).
Several new prohibitions and transparency measures were described: manufacturers and distributors could be barred from providing gifts or building modifications to accommodate gaming equipment, contracts between distributors and permit holders would need to be submitted to the department within seven days of signing, certain familial ownership ties would bar distributors from selling to a permittee, and tablets used for electronic pull tabs would be required to carry identifying marks similar to numbered paper pull‑tabs.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about progressive bingo, endorsements for electronic distribution, shipping costs for rural distributors and the intent of prohibiting vertical integration; sponsors explained the measures are intended to protect charities and ensure parity among distributors and permittees.
The committee worked through sections 21–30 and recessed for the day; members plan to pick up the remaining sections at a future meeting and hear invited testimony on remaining topics.
