By MIKE SMITH
AP Political Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — Bars and taverns in Indiana would be allowed to offer pull tabs and other low-stakes gambling under a bill endorsed by a Senate committee on Thursday.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the previously House-passed bill 8-3 and sent it to the full Senate.
Charitable fraternal organizations or clubs have long offered pull tabs under a bingo license, and the General Assembly created a specific license for them last year.
They are paper games that pay off when symbols underneath pull up tab windows on the back sides of cards match winning combinations shown on the front sides. The tickets typically cost $1, and under the bill, $1 games would pay back 75 percent of the money with the rest going to those who run the games.
Other games such as punchboards and tipboards, which also pay out prizes, also would be allowed.
Besides fees for obtaining licenses to offer the games, excise taxes on the ticket sales also would be collected. Lawmakers have estimated that if the bill becomes law, it would generate between $5 million to $25 million in annual tax revenue.
Under the House bill, two-thirds of that revenue would be distributed to the counties where the bars offering the games are located and all the municipalities in that county. One-third would go to school districts in the county.
But the Senate committee changed the bill so that all the excise tax money would go to the state. Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Meeks, R-LaGrange, said dividing it locally would have been a logistical mess.
Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, was one of the three committee members who voted against the bill, saying she opposed expanded gambling.
“It seems every year that there is more and more gambling, and I think that is a mistake for Hoosiers,” she said.
But Meeks said he did not consider it an expansion of gambling.
“It’s giving parity to taverns who are gainfully employed people that pay taxes in the state of Indiana,” Meeks said. “It’s giving them the same advantage that the not-for-profits have had for years.”
Gov. Mitch Daniels has said that he would be open to considering the legislation if it passes the General Assembly.
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