02-13-2020, 08:07 PM
Growing gambling revenues earmarked for U.S. Bank Stadium debt may prove tempting this sessionThe stadium's reserve fund is projected to balloon to nearly $250 million by 2023, enabling the state to possibly pay off the stadium 10 years early.
Charitable gambling revenue is accruing so rapidly in U.S. Bank Stadium’s coffers that the Minnesota Vikings are looking to fortify their defense at the Legislature.
The most recent estimates indicate there will be almost $250 million in the account to pay off stadium debt by 2023. That number could grow with the forecast at the end of the month, creating a tempting pot of cash that lawmakers may choose to tap this session for other purposes.
The Vikings want to block that move.
“We’ve been strongly advocating that the state leaders use the money for its intended purpose, which is to pay down the bonds on U.S. Bank Stadium,” Vikings vice president Lester Bagley said Wednesday.
Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Vernon Center, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, also plans to sponsor a measure to put the reserve money in a “stadium payoff fund” and use it to pay off the public debt faster. If the state waits until 2023 to call the stadium bonds, Rosen said, the fund could be used to pay down the debt and pay off the public portion of the stadium 10 years early.
But Allen Lund, executive director of Allied Charities of Minnesota whose members run pulltab operations throughout the state and receive a share of the revenue, wants to see those charities get a larger share.
“It’s time to lighten the load on charities,” Lund said.
The reserve account’s strength comes from surprisingly robust growth in electronic pulltabs, legalized in 2012 to provide a revenue source to cover annual payments on the $498 million in bonds issued to cover the public’s share of U.S. Bank Stadium. The building’s main tenant, the Minnesota Vikings, covered the remainder of the stadium’s $1.1 billion cost.
There’s no guarantee the revenue will continue to flow, and an economic downturn could depress the run on e-pulltabs. But for now the stadium reserve fund seems more than robust.
In 2019, gambling revenue increased by 17 percent, the ninth consecutive year of growth. In Minnesota, both paper and electronic pulltabs make up 94% of total gambling sales of $2.3 billion annually.
The details of the stadium deal, which took months to negotiate, included diverting charitable gambling revenue to pay the state’s share of the stadium debt. Initially, the pulltab revenue fell far short of projections, causing state leaders to find other financial patches. But electronic pulltab sales took off and now state budget leaders are forecasting a stash of nearly $250 million in the stadium reserve fund in three years. That’s an eye-popping and tempting target for many, including Lund.
He said he was “frustrated” that the stadium fund was growing “on the backs of charities,” that they were getting a shrinking piece of a growing pie and that at some point they were going to say “enough is enough.”
In fiscal year 2012, Lund said, charities received 6 cents on every dollar of gambling revenue; by fiscal year 2019, that had shrunk to 3.6 cents on the dollar
http://www.startribune.com/growing-gambl...567838292/
Charitable gambling revenue is accruing so rapidly in U.S. Bank Stadium’s coffers that the Minnesota Vikings are looking to fortify their defense at the Legislature.
The most recent estimates indicate there will be almost $250 million in the account to pay off stadium debt by 2023. That number could grow with the forecast at the end of the month, creating a tempting pot of cash that lawmakers may choose to tap this session for other purposes.
The Vikings want to block that move.
“We’ve been strongly advocating that the state leaders use the money for its intended purpose, which is to pay down the bonds on U.S. Bank Stadium,” Vikings vice president Lester Bagley said Wednesday.
Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Vernon Center, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, also plans to sponsor a measure to put the reserve money in a “stadium payoff fund” and use it to pay off the public debt faster. If the state waits until 2023 to call the stadium bonds, Rosen said, the fund could be used to pay down the debt and pay off the public portion of the stadium 10 years early.
But Allen Lund, executive director of Allied Charities of Minnesota whose members run pulltab operations throughout the state and receive a share of the revenue, wants to see those charities get a larger share.
“It’s time to lighten the load on charities,” Lund said.
The reserve account’s strength comes from surprisingly robust growth in electronic pulltabs, legalized in 2012 to provide a revenue source to cover annual payments on the $498 million in bonds issued to cover the public’s share of U.S. Bank Stadium. The building’s main tenant, the Minnesota Vikings, covered the remainder of the stadium’s $1.1 billion cost.
There’s no guarantee the revenue will continue to flow, and an economic downturn could depress the run on e-pulltabs. But for now the stadium reserve fund seems more than robust.
In 2019, gambling revenue increased by 17 percent, the ninth consecutive year of growth. In Minnesota, both paper and electronic pulltabs make up 94% of total gambling sales of $2.3 billion annually.
The details of the stadium deal, which took months to negotiate, included diverting charitable gambling revenue to pay the state’s share of the stadium debt. Initially, the pulltab revenue fell far short of projections, causing state leaders to find other financial patches. But electronic pulltab sales took off and now state budget leaders are forecasting a stash of nearly $250 million in the stadium reserve fund in three years. That’s an eye-popping and tempting target for many, including Lund.
He said he was “frustrated” that the stadium fund was growing “on the backs of charities,” that they were getting a shrinking piece of a growing pie and that at some point they were going to say “enough is enough.”
In fiscal year 2012, Lund said, charities received 6 cents on every dollar of gambling revenue; by fiscal year 2019, that had shrunk to 3.6 cents on the dollar
http://www.startribune.com/growing-gambl...567838292/
![[Image: Classic_5_Temptations_circa_1965.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/df/Classic_5_Temptations_circa_1965.jpg)
