Geoffrey M. Standing Bear, Esq. 

Kane Law Bldg., 120 East Sixth Street 

P.O. Box 1049 

Pawhuska, Oklahoma 74056 

Dear Mr. Standing Bear: 

This letter responds to your inquiry as to whether the National Indian Gaming 

Commission regards the game "Play Pull-Tab as a class I1 or class I11 game under the Indian 

Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). We reviewed the information provided and conclude that the 

game, as discussed below, is a class 111 game. 

Operation of "Play Pull-Tab " is described in the correspondence and documents you and 

the manufacturer, Cory Consultants, provided. In general, "Play Pull-Tab " is a video machine 

which dispenses pull-tabs. The customer inserts money and pushes a button which dispenses a 

pull-tab. As the pull-tab passes through the machine, the machine reads a bar code, revealing the 

contents of the pull-tab. The customer, by pushing "open" buttons, then obtains a video display 

of the pull-tab contents and the amount, if any, which has been won. In your letter of October 18, 

1998, you indicate that the machine also allows the customer to receive the paper pull-tab, open 

it, and determine whether he or she has won in the traditional fashion, i.e. by matching the 

symbols on the card with the winning patterns, without having the machine provide a video 

display. This latter feature--an option for the customer to play the pull-tab without using the 

video display-- appears to have been added since the game was originally submitted to us. When 

first demonstrated to the NIGC, the game provided no reason for the customer to open the paper 

pull-tab. Thereafter a bonus win was added, which could be claimed only by persons opening the 

paper pull-tab. Now it appears that the bonus win feature has been dropped, but a no-video 

option has been provided. 

"Play Pull-tab" is a device which "performs all the hnctions 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. "" For that 

reason, "Play Pull-Tab" is a facsimile of the traditional pull-tab game, and is, therefore, a class 111 

game. Indian gaming activities offering this game in the absence of a tribal-state compact would 

be operating in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. 

Please note that this opinion is advisory in nature only and does not constitute a final 

decision of the Commission. It is prepared in contemplation of future regulations which wiil 

establish a formal decision-making process for classification of games under IGRA. Until the 

'Diamond Game Enterprises. Inc. v. Reno, 9 F. Supp. 2d 13, 20,21 (D.D.C. 1998). 

1441 L STREET, N.W. STH FLOOR WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 EL: 202-632-7003 FAX: 202-632-7066 
regulations are issued or this decision is reversed, revised, superseded or reconsidered, this 

opinion will guide the Commission in deciding whether or not to pursue enforcement action 

against a particular gaming operation that may be playing "Play Pull-Tab ". Furthermore, if there 

are any changes made to the game as described or we have not been provided important 

information about the game as played, such changes or information might materially alter our 

conclusion. 

Finally, by issuing this opinion, we do not speak on behalf of the Department of Justice or 

the United States Attorneys who share enforcement responsibilities with the Commission over 

gambling devices. 

If you have any questions, please contact Richard Schiff at (202)632-7003 

B& Brandon V 

General Counsel 

cc: Cory Consultants 

2439 North Balboa Avenue 

Tucson, AZ 85705 

United States Attorney, Western District of Oklahoma 

United States Attorney, Eastern District of Oklahoma 

United States Attorney, Northern District of Oklahoma 

Kevin DiGregory, Department of Justice