ST. CLOUD -- When members of Minnesota's charitable gambling industry come to St. Cloud Thursday for their annual convention and expo, the topic of state taxes are again going to be at the forefront.

Allied Charities Executive Director Allen Lund says the graduated tax structure for charitable gambling is unfair. He says the state of Minnesota is taking more than their fair share of revenues and is leaving less money for the local communities those revenues are designed to help...

After expenses, we end up paying in state taxes and fees 50% of what is left.  So, our portion of the overall pie is diminishing where everyone else's is increasing.  What that means for us is that we have less and less money to help our communities and the people in-need in our communities.

With the popularity in e-tabs growing exponentially, paper pulltabs going strong and paper bingo experiencing slow growth, Lund says more money is going into the gambling coffers...

Last year our business was up $194,000,000.  When we got to the bottom line, it increased by about $1,000,000.  But, the state's increase was about $10,000,000.  So, our people are looking at that and saying we're doing all this work, our sales are going up, and up, and up but we're getting 1/10 of what's being realized because the state is taking the other 9/10.

Lund says they have a bill before the legislature which would allow them to exempt their donations and provide up to $16,000,000 in tax relief to charitable gaming organizations.

These large revenue increases can more than cover the state's obligations for the football stadium payments according to Lund...

We understand we're going to pay for that stadium.  But, we sent in $65,000,000 last year and the stadium nut is $31,000,000, so there is more than enough money coming in from charitable gaming to give us some relief.

The 27th Annual Minnesota Lawful Gambling Convention and Expo is at the St. Cloud River's Edge Convention Center Thursday through Saturday.

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