# Title 99 — State Gaming Commission

## Article 99-01.3 — Games of Chance

## Chapter 99-01.3-06 — Pull Tabs, Club Special, Tip Board, Seal Board, Prize Board, and Punchboard

### § 99-01.3-06-01. Games - Definitions.

This chapter applies to a licensed organization that conducts pull tabs, club specials, tip boards,
seal boards, prize boards. The maximum price per chance is two dollars. A prize board, club special,
punchboard, seal board, and tip board are conducted as a single game which may have a cash or
merchandise prize and one or more seal prizes. The value of a seal prize or a last sale prize may
exceed the value of the top tier prize. For pull tabs described by subsection 3, only a cash prize can be
awarded, not a merchandise or seal prize.
1. "Club special" means a placard used with pull tabs and it contains numbered lines and a seal
covering the winning number of the top tier prize. A player may win a minor prize or, if the
player has a pull tab with a number matching a predesignated number on the placard, would
sign the player's full name on the line. Only one player's name may be signed on a specific
line. When all the lines are signed, a seal is removed to reveal a winning line number. A player
whose signature is on that line wins the seal prize. An organization is responsible for ensuring
that a complete description and retail price of a merchandise seal prize, description of minor
merchandise prizes, or cash prize to be awarded and cost per play is on a flare. The
maximum number of pull tabs in a deal is five hundred. The maximum cash prize, last sale
prize, or seal prize, including the retail price of a merchandise prize, is one hundred fifty
dollars.
2. "Prize board" means a board used with pull tabs to award cash or merchandise prizes. Coins
of various values may be affixed to the board and, under each coin, a cash prize value is
preprinted on the board. A board must contain numbered lines and a seal covering a winning
number. A player having a pull tab with a number matching a predesignated number on a
board for a seal prize signs the player's full name on the numbered line or supplemental
sheet. Only one player's name may be signed on a specific line. However, if a number or
symbol matches a winning number or symbol assigned to a specific coin or minor prize, the
player wins that coin or prize, and a cash prize value stated under the coin. A last sale prize
may be awarded. When the board is closed, a seal is removed to reveal the winning line
number. A player whose signature is on that line wins the seal prize. No board may be closed
unless all the top tier winning pull tabs have been redeemed, all the pull tabs are sold, all the
seals have been opened, or the board has been conducted for ninety calendar days. An
organization is responsible for ensuring that a complete description and retail price of a
merchandise seal prize, description of minor merchandise prizes, or cash prize to be awarded
and cost per play is on a board. A seal prize and a last sale prize are not considered top tier
prizes. If a coin is not awarded, an organization shall determine the prizes to report on a tax
return by prorating the total cost of the coins, according to their face value, of the coins that
were awarded to the total face value of all the coins. An organization may use an unawarded
prize in another game, sell the prize, or deposit the coin in the gaming account. The maximum
number of pull tabs in a deal is two thousand. The maximum cash prize, last sale prize, or seal
prize, including the retail price of a merchandise prize, is five hundred dollars.
3. "Pull tab" means a folded or banded ticket (jar ticket), a card with break-open tabs (pull tab), or
a ticket with a latex covering. The terms "pull tab" and "jar ticket" are used interchangeably
unless otherwise stated. A winning pull tab contains certain symbols or numbers and may

contain multiple winning symbols or numbers. A pull-tab game must be played with two or
more deals commingled at any time. The maximum cash prize for a winning symbol or number
on a pull tab or last sale prize is five hundred dollars.
4. "Punchboard" means a board comprised of holes that contain numbered slips of paper
(punches). A punchboard may include a seal prize, and more than one last sale prize if the
punchboard is split into more than one section. An employee or player extracts a punch from
the punchboard. If the number on the punch matches a number on a flare, the player wins a
prize. No punchboard may be closed unless all the top tier winning punches have been
redeemed, all the punches are sold, or the punchboard has been conducted for ninety
calendar days. A seal prize and a last sale prize are not considered top tier prizes. An
organization is responsible for ensuring that a complete description and retail price of a
merchandise seal prize, description of minor merchandise prizes, or cash prize to be awarded
and cost per play is on a board. The maximum cash prize, seal prize, or last sale prize,
including the retail price of a merchandise prize, is five hundred dollars.
5. "Seal board" means a placard containing consecutively numbered lines. A seal covers the
winning number. A player buys a blank "line" and signs the player's full name on it. Only one
player's name may be signed on a specific line. After all the lines are signed, the seal is
removed to reveal the winning line number. An organization is responsible for ensuring that a
complete description and retail price of a merchandise seal prize or cash prize to be awarded
and cost per play is on a board. The maximum seal cash prize or retail price of a merchandise
prize is five hundred dollars.
6. "Tip board" means a placard to which jar tickets or pull tabs are attached. A seal covers the
winning number of the top tier prize. A player may win a minor prize or, if the number of a
player's jar ticket matches a number on the placard, the player signs the player's full name on
the line. Only one player's name may be signed on a specific line. After all the lines are signed
or all the pull tabs have been sold, the seal is removed to reveal the winning number. An
organization is responsible for ensuring that a complete description and retail price of a
merchandise seal prize, description of minor merchandise prizes, or cash prize to be awarded
and cost per play is on a board. The maximum number of jar tickets or pull tabs in a deal is
five hundred. The maximum cash prize, seal prize, or last sale prize, including the retail price
of a merchandise prize, is one hundred fifty dollars.
History: Effective May 1, 1998; amended effective July 1, 2000; July 1, 2002; July 1, 2004; October 1,
2006; July 1, 2010; April 1, 2016; January 1, 2023.
General Authority: NDCC 53-06.1-01.1
Law Implemented: NDCC 53-06.1-01.1, 53-06.1-08
### § 99-01.3-06-02. Conduct and play.

1. Deals of pull tabs must be commingled for a game as follows:
a. Two or more deals must be placed in a receptacle and be thoroughly intermixed. When
an organization's predetermined number or range of numbers of winning pull tabs remain
in a game as unredeemed, an additional deal is added. An employee shall add a deal to
a game when there are about two hundred fifty pull tabs remaining and the game cannot
be or is not being closed. The new pull tabs must be intermixed with the pull tabs in the
receptacle before any pull tab is sold;
b. The deals must be identical except for the game serial number, and a minor difference in
printing that is approved by the attorney general. Each deal must have at least two top
tier winning pull tabs. If deals of a game involve folded or banded jar tickets, the color of
the tickets' band must be the same; however, multiple-colored bands on a single ticket
may be used. When a deal is added to a game, an employee shall compare the color of

a deal's pull tabs to the color of the game's pull tabs. If the two colors are not the same,
the deal cannot be used;
c. A master flare or flare for at least one deal of a game must be displayed with the game
and be visible to and not easily removed by a player. An organization shall retain all
original flares at a site while a game is in play. If a deal has a last sale prize feature, the
deal's flare must also be displayed. Only the flare of one deal of a game may have a last
sale prize feature;
d. If an indicator for adding a deal to a game has been reached and an organization does
not have a deal to add, the organization shall temporarily suspend the game until it
procures a deal. However, if the organization is unable to procure a deal from the
distributors and all the top tier winning pull tabs have been redeemed, it may close the
game;
e. If a site's total gross proceeds of pull tabs averages twelve thousand five hundred dollars
or less per quarter, a game may be closed anytime if all top tier winning pull tabs have
been redeemed;
f. Except as provided by subdivision g, if a site's total gross proceeds of pull tabs averages
more than twelve thousand five hundred dollars per quarter, no game may be closed
unless an organization discontinues gaming at the site, or all the top tier winning pull tabs
have been redeemed and a game has been in play for twenty-five consecutive calendar
days; and
g. An organization shall close a game by the end of a quarter. If all top tier winning pull tabs
have been redeemed, an organization may close a game for the quarter within fourteen
calendar days before the end of that quarter. An organization may start a new game for
the next quarter within fourteen calendar days before the next quarter begins. However,
an organization may not start a new game and end that game within this
fourteen-calendar-day period.
2. An employee may not place a deal of pull tabs, club special, or prize board in play which has a
manufacturer's or distributor's seal broken on the game's container when the game was
received from a distributor. A person may not take off a deal's manufacturer's cellophane
shrink wrap or break the manufacturer's or distributor's security seal on the deal's container
until the deal is to be placed in a receptacle. If a distributor's or manufacturer's security seal is
broken before the deal is used, an organization shall return the deal to the distributor. If a deal
is packaged in two or more containers, the full deal must be placed in play at the same time.
3. The following rules, information, and policies must be posted or made available to players in
the area where pull-tab activity is conducted. If made available to players, the rules,
information, and policies must be in the form of a handout that is easily visible to the players
and may not be a copy of the gaming law and rules:
a. Restricting the play of a game to one player or a group of players is prohibited;
b. A winning pull tab must be redeemed within a fifteen-minute time limit;
c. If a person knowingly solicits, provides, receives, or knowingly uses any inside
information, from or to any person, by any means, or knowingly uses a fraudulent
scheme or technique to cheat or skim involving pull tabs, regardless of the amount
gained, the offense is a class C felony punishable by a five thousand dollar fine or five
years in jail or both;
d. A pull tab cannot be redeemed if it has been taken from the gaming area;

e. To the best of the organization's knowledge, a prize remaining on a board relates to a
winning pull tab that has not been redeemed. This rule is not required to be posted or
made available to players if an organization does not conduct a prize board;
f. A deal may be added to a game at any time;
g. If a player attempts to falsify or falsifies a record of win, the prize is forfeited. This rule is
not required to be posted or made available to players if an organization does not pay a
prize that requires a record of win;
h. For any last sale prize, the method of determining which player is entitled to buy the last
pull tab or punch for a last sale prize when two or more players desire to buy the last pull
tab or punch;
i. The information, if any, authorized by subdivision a or b, or both, of subsection 5;
j. Any limit on the number of pull tabs or punches that a player may buy at a time; and
k. When a game is being closed, an employee shall:
(1) Post a notice that the game is being sold out; and
(2) Any limit on the number of pull tabs or punches that two or more players may buy at
a time.
4. A player may not redeem and an employee may not knowingly pay a prize for a pull tab after
fifteen minutes have elapsed since the pull tab was bought. If a player attempts to redeem a
pull tab after the time limit, an employee shall, if possible, retain and void the pull tab.
5. A person may post the information referenced by subdivision a or b, or both, for a commingled
game provided that the posting contains a statement that the information is correct to the best
of the organization's knowledge and that the information is not guaranteed to be accurate. A
posting must be visible to players in the area where jar bars are located and where the game
type is conducted. If an organization does not have a policy on when to stop posting this
information when a game is being closed, it shall stop posting the information when there are
less than six winning pull tabs, through a level of prize value determined by the organization,
that remain unredeemed. Posted information may be as described in subdivision a or b, or
both:
a. The minimum number of unredeemed winning pull tabs or a range of numbers of
unredeemed winning pull tabs, through a level of prize value determined by an
organization, that will always be in a game unless the game is being closed. This
information may be for each prize value or the total of several prize values. The level of
prize value must be posted. If a pull tab has two or more winning prize patterns, the
information must be based on the value of each prize pattern.
b. The number of unredeemed winning pull tabs, through a level of prize value determined
by an organization, that remain in a game. This information may be for each prize value
or the total of several prize values. The level of prize value must be posted. If a pull tab
has two or more winning prize patterns, the information must be based on the value of
each prize pattern. The information must be continually updated.
6. An organization may limit the number of pull tabs a player may buy regardless if the player is
redeeming a winning pull tab.
7. An employee may not selectively pick a pull tab from a receptacle based on its game serial
number or other factor. An employee shall take a handful of pull tabs from a receptacle and

count off the number bought. An employee may not permit a player to physically handpick a
pull tab or honor a player's request to select a specific pull tab. However, an employee may
honor a player's suggestion to select a pull tab from a general area of a receptacle. In
applying subsection 2 of North Dakota Century Code section 53-06.1-16, the phrase
"fraudulent scheme or technique" includes an employee selecting, by any method, only certain
pull tabs in a game or an employee not thoroughly intermixing pull tabs of the initial or added
deals.
8. An employee may only assist a person with a disability in opening a pull tab.
9. An employee shall deface a winning number or symbol of a pull tab, including pull tabs used
with a prize board, and punchboard punch when it is redeemed. If a pull tab has two or more
winning prize patterns, a winning number or symbol of at least one pattern must be defaced.
An employee may not knowingly pay a prize to a player who is redeeming a pull tab that has
been defaced, tampered with, counterfeited, has a game serial number different from the
serial numbers of the deals in the game, or is defective.
10. If a player buys a set of banded jar tickets and before opening or breaking the band of any jar
ticket, determines that the set contains less than the standard number of tickets, an employee
may issue the player only the number of tickets actually missing or may issue the player a new
set in exchange for the defective set.
11. When a game is being closed, an organization may continue to conduct the game although all
of its top tier and minor winning pull tabs have been redeemed. An employee may not permit a
player to buy out a game except when a game is being closed. If an organization closes a
game that has pull tabs unsold, it may not open or place the pull tabs back into play.
12. Unless an organization conducts a commingled game according to subdivision e of
subsection 1 or closes a commingled game at least monthly, an employee who did not
conduct the game, have sole access to the games in play, cash banks, and receipts or cash
profit for the games, shall do a monthly interim audit of the game. If the percent-of-accuracy of
all the games of a site for the previous quarter was less than ninety-eight and one-half
percent, and a cash shortage of more than one hundred dollars, an employee who did not
conduct the game, have sole access to the games in play, cash banks, and receipts or cash
profit for the games, shall do a weekly interim audit of the games for that site for up to twelve
continuous weeks or until the organization determines, resolves, and documents the cause.
One of the weekly interim audits may be the audit required by subsection 7 of section
### § 99-01.3-03-10. An organization shall start the weekly audits no later than the date on which its

tax return for the quarter was filed with the attorney general. Percent-of-accuracy is computed
as cash profit divided by adjusted gross proceeds.
13. An employee shall award the last sale cash or merchandise prize to the player who actually
buys the last pull tab or punch.
14. An organization may transfer a commingled game, club special, tip board, seal board, prize
board, and punchboard from a site to another site, or rotate games among sites. If an
organization discontinues gaming at a site, it may close a game. If a game is in the process of
being conducted through a jar bar, the game cannot be transferred to a dispensing device. A
game must be reported for the site at which it was closed and on a tax return for the quarter in
which it was closed.
15. An employee may not pay, from any source of funds, a prize to a player unless the player
redeems an actual winning pull tab that has a game serial number from a game conducted at
the site. This rule does not apply to a last sale prize.

16. Before leaving a jar bar unattended, an employee shall safeguard the games, cash, and
records.
17. An organization may not publicly display a redeemed pull tab.
18. An organization or employee may not reimburse, from any source of funds, an amount to a
player for play of a game that has a manufacturing defect or has an incorrect posting of
information described by subsection 5, unless the attorney general approves.
19. If an organization suspects or determines that a game may be defective, the organization shall
temporarily suspend the game, notify the attorney general, and follow the attorney general's
instructions.
History: Effective May 1, 1998; amended effective July 1, 2000; July 1, 2002; July 1, 2004; July 1,
2010; July 1, 2012; April 1, 2016; July 1, 2018; January 1, 2023.
General Authority: NDCC 53-06.1-01.1
Law Implemented: NDCC 53-06.1-01.1, 53-06.1-08
### § 99-01.3-06-03. Recordkeeping.

Records must include and be retained for three years from the end of the quarter in which the
activity was reported, unless otherwise provided by rule:
1. All redeemed and unsold pull tabs or punches for a game must be retained as documentation
for gross proceeds and prizes for one year from the end of the quarter in which the activity
was reported on a tax return.
2. For a commingled game, an accounting of each deal's, shift's, or day's redeemed pull tabs,
including the number by prize value, total prizes, and number of redeemed top tier pull tabs by
game serial number. This accounting must be consistent and be done each time a deal is
added to a game, a shift ends, or at the end of each day. If the accounting is done each time a
deal is added to a game, the redeemed winning pull tabs for the period must be grouped
separately and retained with all other groups of pull tabs of that game. If the accounting is
done at the end of each shift or day, the redeemed winning pull tabs for each shift or day must
be banded and each banded group must be dated with the date of activity and be retained in a
storage container with all other banded groups of that game. For each game, there must be a
daily accounting of deals added to a game, by gaming stamp and game serial numbers, and
of the cash profit and bank deposit.
3. For a club special, tip board, seal board, prize board, and punchboard, an accounting of
prizes, by state gaming stamp number.
4. A daily accounting of starting and ending cash on hand and IOU records according to section
99-01.3-03-06.
5. For a deal of pull tabs or prize board, the game information sheet, flare with the state gaming
stamp affixed, and one master flare; and for a club special, tip board, punchboard, and seal
board, the flare, with the state gaming stamp affixed.
6. A summary of ideal gross proceeds, value of unsold pull tabs or punches, gross proceeds,
prizes, adjusted gross proceeds, cash profit, cash long or short, and bank deposit. The
summaries for a quarter must reconcile to the activity reported on the tax return.
7. Record of win according to section 99-01.3-03-08.
8. Inventory records according to subsection 1 of section 99-01.3-03-09.

9. Ideal cash bank master records according to subsection 4 of section 99-01.3-03-09.
10. An organization approved by the attorney general to use a combined cash bank for pull tab
games at a site shall document the allocation of cash profit to each game based on the ratio of
a game's adjusted gross proceeds to the total adjusted gross proceeds of all the games.
11. For a commingled game, club special, tip board, seal board, prize board, and punchboard the
cash profit as defined in subdivisions c, f, and g of subsection 9 of section 99-01.3-02-01.
12. Interim audit records according to subsection 12 of section 99-01.3-06-02.
13. Verification of the amount deposited according to a bank statement, and an audit of the
game's activity according to subsections 6 and 7 of section 99-01.3-03-10.
14. Purchase invoice or receipt documenting the cost and description of a merchandise prize.
15. The count and reconciliation of deals, games, and cash banks according to subsections 1, 4,
and 6 of section 99-01.3-03-09.
History: Effective May 1, 1998; amended effective July 1, 2000; July 1, 2002; July 1, 2004; October 1,
2006; July 1, 2010; April 1, 2016; July 1, 2018; January 1, 2023.
General Authority: NDCC 53-06.1-01.1
Law Implemented: NDCC 53-06.1-01.1
