vikings stadium

Bar owners and charitable gambling organizations in the St. Cloud area will have a chance to learn more about electronic gambling games later this month.

A key official says negotiations are likely to be completed next month on a detailed use agreement for the Minnesota Vikings' new stadium. Chair Michele Kelm-Helgen of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority said Monday the big issues having to do with rent and concession revenue were already settled in the stadium law passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2012.

Gov. Mark Dayton is proposing that lawmakers use new revenue from taxes on cigarettes and corporate income to shore up the state's share of the new Minnesota Vikings stadium. Dayton's revenue commissioner unveiled the latest proposal Thursday in the House-Senate tax conference committee.

The Minnesota Vikings will have a fixed roof and moveable front windows on their new stadium. Designer Bryan Trubey of Dallas-based HKS Architects presented images of the $975 million project to a crowd of fans, public officials and members of the Vikings organization Monday night.

The electronic bingo games which will help fund a new Minnesota Vikings stadium have been shut down while a malfunction is fixed. The company producing the games that are being tested in a half dozen bars and restaurants says the bingo screen sometimes displayed a random image when a new player logged on to the game.

The Top 5 at 7:45 is willing to help lawmakers come up with an alternative way to pay for the State's version of the Vikings Stadium. Lawmakers and the Governor are looking for alternatives to electronic pull tabs to pay for the Vikings Stadium.

Minnesota's budget chief says he will likely wait until summer before deciding whether to activate so-called blink-on revenue options for the new Vikings football stadium. Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter encountered sharp questions Monday from lawmakers who are worried that general tax dollars will be needed to compensate for poor results from expanded gambling.

Tax money from electronic gambling in bars is falling way short of the state's original projections as the primary funding source to build the new Minnesota Vikings stadium. State budget officials released the latest stadium revenue numbers Thursday as part of a larger budget forecast.

Minnesotans will have to wait at least another month before electronic bingo games debut at bars and restaurants. The Minnesota Gambling Control Board on Tuesday delayed approval of the first electronic "linked bingo" game.

Officials working on the new Minnesota Vikings stadium say it might be difficult to meet certain employee-diversity goals. The stadium legislation signed by Gov. Mark Dayton this spring included goals from the state Legislature to have minority workers make up nearly a third of the labor force and for women to be 6 percent of the workforce.