Mr. Stephen A. Lenske, Esq. 

Lenske, Kenske & Abramson 

6400 Canoga Avenue, Suite 3 15 

Woodland Hills, CA 9 1367-2491 

Re: Magical Irish Instant Bingo Dispenser and Verifier System 

Dear Mr. Lenske: 

This letter provides an advisory classification opinion for the Magic Irish Instant 

Bingo Dispenser and Verifier System (Magic Irish) demonstrated at the offices of the 

National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) on January 19,2000. The written 

descriptions for the game contained in a letter report dated January 13,2000, from Mr. 

James R. Maida of Gaming Laboratories International, Inc. (GMI) and in a document 

dated December 7, 1999, from Snyder and Associates are included by reference with this 

opinion. A video of the game was also provided. After considering these matters along 71~1' with the summary of features and other comments presented in your letter of January 20, 

2000, I conclude that Magic Irish is a class 111 game under the Indian Gaming Regulatory 

Act (IGRA) and the regulations of the NIGC. 

Game Description 

Magic Irish is a video pull-tab device comprised of three individual components: 

Base, Verifier, and Dispenser. These components work in conjunction to dispense a 

paper pull-tab and concurrently display symbols corresponding to the contents of the 

paper pull-tab on a video screen. The device is stand-alone and, in the configuration 

presented, not designed to be linked with other similar units. 

The base portion of the system houses the main CPU board along with software 

that operates the device. The base also includes a power supply and power distribution 

box. A separate power supply for the Verifier was offered in the version presented for 

NIGC demonstration although the version examined by GMI did not contain this feature. 

The CPU board includes a surface-mounted Flash PROM that contains the software used 

to control game operation. Because this PROM is soldered to the CPU board, GMI 

could not evaluate the operational software. The materials fiom Snyder and Associates 

indicate that the device does not contain a random number generator. 

llr*r. ' 

1441 L mET, N.W. gTH ROOR WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 TEL: '202-632-7- FAX: 202632-7086 
The Verifier component houses a video monitor that can display the outcome of 

the paper pull-tab made available by the Dispenser. The exterior of the Verifier contains 

an identification plate, an award glass that provides details on which combinations fi-om 

the pull-tabs are considered winners, and a push button identified as "VERIFY". When 

the "VERIFY" button is pressed, the monitor will display a visual representation of the 

outcome of a pull-tab at the time it is purchased.' This display will continue as to future 

pull-tab purchases until the player chooses to no longer employ the feature. The display 

feature can be disabled by again depressing the "VERIFY" button. In a sense, the button 

merely serves as an ordoff switch for the display function. The player may choose not to 

use the video display as to any particular pull-tab sale and may simply read the pull-tab 

himself. However, the full operational capability contemplates display of the game 

symbols or numbers corresponding to those from the pull-tab onto the video screen. 

During the visual display process, the monitor shows a nine-position grid. The symbols 

within the grid graphically mimic rotation. When the movement stops, the symbols match 

the paper pull-tab. An audio feature accompanies the video display and provides 

distinctive sound if a winning combination is attained. 

The Dispenser has exterior and internal components. Key exterior features 

include a LCD display that describes the credits available, a bill acceptor, a "DISPENSE" 

button, and a tray into which pull-tabs are dispensed. The interior is composed of two 

locked compartments. The bill validator occupies one compartment along with "Dl" and 

"WON" meters. The Scanner compartment houses the scanner, a roll of pull-tabs and 

various other electrical components. 

The scanner within the Dispenser unit reads a bar code on each pull-tab as it is 

dispensed on its way to the tray. The information obtained from the bar code is displayed 

on the video monitor if the display feature is in use, as determined by the player. The 

scanner is connected by cabling to the CPU board housed in the base of the device. The 

scanner communicates to the Verifier through the CPU board. The CPU board translates 

the information so that the Verifier may display the contents of the paper pull-tab. 

The scanner does not convert pull-tabs with winning combinations into additional 

credit for future play. The winning pull-tabs must be presented to a cashier or an 

attendant for payment. Magic Irish does not dispense a cash payment. 

The pull-tabs are manufactured in large rolls or spools. Each contains 7,500 pulltabs. Each pull-tab is cut fiom the spool at time of purchase. Because of prize array, the 

pull-tab "deal" must contain more than one spool and the dispenser unit does not contain 

a full deal at ar,y one time. 

The pull-tabs are made of two-ply paper material. The upper ply is an opaque 

covering printed on one side with the name of the game. This ply may be pealed off, or 

' Perhaps the term "VERIFY" incorrectly describes the function of the button. Webster's says the term 

means "to determine or test the truth or accuracy of, as by comparison, investigation, or reference." 

Nothing is verified when the button is depressed. Rather, symbols corresponding to those on the pull-tab 

ticket are shown. "DISPLAY" could be a more accurate label. 
to the side, to reveal the icons or symbols printed on the lower ply. A bar code, a 

*IJ sequential number, and other numbers said to be unrelated to any individual player are 

printed on the outer surface of the lower ply, the backside of the pull-tab. 

Pertinent Statutes and Regulations 

IGRA divides gaming into three distinct categories. Class I gaming involves 

social games and traditional Indian games not applicable to this discussion. Class I1 

gaming includes "the game of chance commonly known as bingo (whether or not 

electronic, computer, or other technologic aids are used in connection therewith) . . . in 

which the game is won by the first person covering a previously designated arrangement 

of numbers or designations on such cards, including (if played in the same location) pull 

tabs, . . . instant bingo, and other games similar to bingo." The term "class I1 gaming" 

does not include "electronic or electromechanical facsimiles of any game of chance or 

slot machines of any kind." Class 111 gaming means "all forms of gaming that are not 

class I gaming or class I1 gaming." See 25 U.S.C. 2703 (6) - (8). 

Regulations of the NIGC provide corresponding definitions for these terms at 25 

C.F.R. part 502. 

The purpose in drawing a distinction between class I1 and class I11 gaming is that, 

under IGRA, class I11 gaming may only be played in conformance with a tribal-state 

compact permitting such gaming. See 25 U.S.C. 2710(b)(l)(A). 

Discussion 

A similar pull-tab device, Lucky Tab 11, was considered in Diamond Gaming 

Enterprises, Inc. v. Reno, 9 F. Supp 2d.13 (D.D.C. 1998). Lucky Tab I1 closely parallels 

Magic Irish, also a product of Diamond Gaming Enterprises. The court opinion provides 

clear guidance to determine the classification for Magic Irish. Other important court 

decisions involving video pull-tabs also provide guidance, notably Cabazon Band of 

Mission Indians v. National Indian Gaming Commission, 14 F.3d 633 (D.C. Cir. 1994) 

(Cabazon II) and Sycuan Band of Mission Indians v. Roache, 54 F.3d 535 (9th Cir. 1994). 

The controversy in Diamond Gaming centered on the nature of Lucky Tab I1 as 

either an electronic or computer aid to the traditional game of pull-tab, and thus class 11, 

or an electronic facsimile of that game, which would exclude it from class 11. As the 

court noted, an aid operates to broaden the participation levels in a common game, and is 

distinguishable from a facsimile in which a single participant plays with or against a 

machine rather than with or against other players. 

Here, at any time a single participant plays a self-contained 

machine-not with other players. The participant plays the Lucky Tab I1 

by inserting money into the machine. A single ticket is then dispensed 

from a large roll of pull-tabs inside the machine. As the ticket pull-tab is 

being dispensed, the scanner inside Lucky Tab I1 reads a bar code on the 
back of the pull-tab ticket and provides a video display of the encoded 

symbols on the pull-tab. The Lucky Tab I1 also contains a variety of light 

and visual effects, not dissimilar to a slot machine. Distinctive audio 

sounds and visual signals inform the participant of a winning ticket which 

can be redeemed for a monetary prize. The Lucky Tab I1 has no other 

technological capability. Its current technological configuration does not 

permit multiple players to participate in the game at one time. When a 

participant plays a particular Lucky Tab I1 machine, others are precluded 

fi-om using that machine until that person stops playing. The Lucky Tab I1 

also lacks the technology that permits for the linking up with other 

participants fi-om the same location or from other remote locations to play 

the basic game of pull-tabs. Accordingly, the Lucky Tab I1 is not an 

electronic aid as contemplated under the IGRA. 

. . . When the participant plays the Lucky Tab 11, she is not playing the 

pull-tabs inside the machine; she is engaging the machine that replicates 

the functions of the traditional pull-tab game. Indeed, the Lucky Tab I1 

performs all the functions that a player of the traditional pull-tab game 

would have performed, including selecting a pull-tab ticket, disclosing the 

hidden symbols on the ticket and determining whether a particular pull-tab 

ticket. is a "winner." Thus the Lucky Tab I1 is a facsimile of the traditional 

pull-tab game. Furthermore, the participant plays with or against the 

machine and not with or against other players. 

4 Diamond Gaming, 9 F.Supp. 2d, at 20. 

In short, the court concluded that Lucky Tab I1 was a device that replicates the 

traditional pull-tab game-not an aid but a facsimile, and thus class 111. 

From a player's perspective, other than graphics, the only important feature that 

makes Magic Irish different from Lucky Tab I1 is the option to display or not display on 

the video monitor the contents of the pull-tab as to any individual pull-tab that is 

dispensed. The manufacturer implements this player-option feature by use of the onloff 

"VERIFY" button and by the use of a separate power supply for the verifier. 

The clear intent in playing the Magic Irish device, however, is to simulate a slot 

machine effect through the play of pull-tabs. In evaluating the game, it is reasonable to 

conclude that players will use all features and not forgo the enjoyment and excitement 

that the game wishes to foster. The features provided by the manufacturer that permit 

video display are integral to the game classification advisory. Consequently, for purposes 

of this opinion, Magic Irish is evaluated only in its full operation capability defined in the 

descriptive materials as "a video pull-tab device [which] dispenses paper pull-tabs while, 

at the players option, concurrently displaying the contents of the paper pull-tab on a video 

~creen."~ 

2 Support for evaluating the game only its full operational mode is also found in Diamond Gaming. The 

B i4LJ))( Court quickly dismissed an effort by the proponents suggesting that the Lucky Tab I1 pull tabs could be 
4'' Magic Irish also attempts to separate the pull-tab sale function from the video 

display function by compartmentalizing the equipment. This effort does not eliminate the 

basic technology: a scanner still reads the pull tab as it is dispensed and, through cabling 

linking the scanner, CPU and video monitor, displays symbols corresponding to the 

contents of the pull-tab on a video screen. Placing the scanner, the monitor, and the CPU 

in adjacent cabinets rather than in a single unit is unimportant to the play of the total 

system. This compartmentalization is not a factor that would cause the game to move to 

class I1 from class 111 on a theory that the single system is really two devices, one for the 

sale and one for the display, and that neither is a gambling de~ice.~ 

Your letter of January 20,2000, points out that in an advisory opinion dated June 

8, 1998, the NIGC determined that devices known as the Tab Force Instant Pull-Tab 

Ticket Validation System and the Multi-Tab Pull-Tab Game System were class II. You 

assert that Magic Irish has similar features. In that opinion, we concluded that the 

systems did not appear to be Johnson Act gambling devices, but the same cannot be said 

of Magic Irish. The significant difference when comparing these systems to Magic Irish 

is that the Tab Force system and the Multi-Tab system do not dispense the pull-tab that is 

to be displayed on the video screen. The player obtains the pull-tab in a transaction 

separate and distinct from the "display" or "verify" function. In these systems, the pulltab must be purchased separately and then inserted into the system, at the player's 

discretion. With either the Tab Force or Multi-Tab system, a player also must open the 

pull-tab to reveal the contents before inserting the pull-tab into the video display system. 

The elements of the consideration, chance and prize are complete before the player 4 engages the machine. 

In Magic Irish, the sale is accomplished by and within the system. A player may 

purchase a pull-tab by expending a credit. The scanner, connected to a video display 

monitor, reads the pull-tab as it is sold and shows the result. The player engages the 

machine for the entire sale-transaction and video-display and determines from the video 

display whether a monetary prize is won. Of course, the player may also make this 

determination from the paper pull-tab, but this seems impractical so long as the display 

feature is in use or even available for use. There is no ability to insert a pull-tab that may 

have been separately purchased into the system so that it simply may be read. 

sold separately and that this was of some consequence to the classification determination with the 

following: "The plaintiffs point out that the pull-tabs themselves can be sold and played apart from the 

Lucky Tab II. From these assertions, the plaintiffs conclude that Lucky Tab II retains the fundamental 

characteristics of the traditional game and is therefore only an aid to the playing of the game. This analysis 

fails to examine the device in its full operational context." See Diamond Gaming, 9 F. Supp. 2d at 18. 

The Johnson Act, codified at 15 U.S.C. 1 171-1 178, contains a definition for "gambling device" that 

includes "(2) any other machine or mechanical device . . . designed and manufactured primarily for use in 

connection with gambling, and (A) which when operated may deliver, as a result of the application of an 

element of chance, any money or property, or (B) by the operation of which a person may become entitled 

to receive, as the result of the application of an element of chance, any money or property." Whether the l1 

I* Magic Irish dispensing unit would be a gambling device if it stood alone is not at issue in this opinion. 
While you assert that Magic Irish has the same characteristics as Tab Force and 

- Multi-Tab, in actuality the system features are almost entirely those of Lucky Tab 11. 

In Cabazon 11, the court concluded "[t] he Act's [IGRA] exclusion of electronic 

facsimiles removes games from the class 33 category when those games are wholly 

incorporated into an electronic or electromechanical version." Cabazon 11, 14 F.3d, at 

636. If that analysis is used, the factual question becomes whether the features present in 

Magic Irish "wholly incorporate" the game. In Cabazon II, the pull tabs were not paper 

but were contained in a computerized deal. The computer randomly selected the pull-tab 

for the player and then displayed it on a video screen. In Magic Irish the technology is 

far more rudimentary--the pull-tabs are on a roll inside the device, rather than on chip or 

a cartridge, but the essential principle is the same: a player pays consideration for a 

chance to win a prize by engaging the machine and then the player learns of a possible 

winning combination through a computerized process and electronic display on the 

machine. 

Under 25 C.F.R. 502.7, an electronic aid to a class I1 game is "a device such as a 

computer, telephone, cable, television, satellite or bingo blower and that when used-- 

. . .(b) Is readily distinguishable from the playing of a game of chance on an electronic or 

electromechanical facsimile [.I" As with the Autotab Model 10 1 in Sycuan, the machine 

at issue here-the Magic Irish System-is not readily distinguishable fiom a game of 

chance or an electronic facsimile. It therefore falls outside the class I1 definition. 

Conclusion 

Magic Irish is an electronic facsimile of the game of pull-tabs. The symbols that 

appear on its video display are computer-generated replicas of a paper pull-tab. The 

game is not an electronic or computer aid to the play of traditional paper pull-tabs. As in 

Lucky Tab 11, when Magic Irish is played in its intended operational mode with the 

electronic display features utilized, the player engages a machine that replicates the 

functions of a traditional pull-tab game. Because in its full operational mode the game is 

an electronic facsimile, it cannot be class 11 and, therefore, under the IGRA definition can 

only be class 111. The game may be played only under a tribal-state compact. 

- 

"The 'Auto?ab Model 101 electronic pull-tab dispenser' is a self-contained unit containing a computer 

linked to a video monitor and a printer. The player electronically reveals concealed numbers to determine 

whether he or she is a winner.. .. The game retains the fundamental characteristics of the paper pull-tab 

version of pull-tab: the video pull tab machine is supplied with a computer chip cartridge that insures a 

predetermined and known number of winning tickets fiom a finite pool of tickets with known prizes.. ." 

' 11 t~ I' Sycuan, 54 F.3d. at 541.