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 provides our opinion of the version of the "Play Pull-Tab" game which was 

demonstrated at the NIGC offices on September 29, 1999. This is a game which has previously 

been reviewed and determined to be a class I11 game, and you have asked that we take a look at 

the newer version. We have concluded that the machine remains a class I11 game. 

In its current incarnation, "Play Pull-Tab " is a video machine which looks like most 

electronic or electromechanical gaming devices. That is, it is a free standing cabinet with a bill 

acceptor, a video display and a light on top. The machine contains portions of pull-tab "deals"' in 

six columns (pull-tabs from these same deals may also be purchased from employees of the 

gaming facility). The customer inserts money, pushes a button to choose the column from which a 

pull-tab is desired, and receives a pull-tab containing a number of plays. In the demonstration, the 

11111~ player inserted five dollars and received ten plays worth fifty cents apiece. As the pull-tab passes 

through the machine, the machine reads a bar code, revealing for the machine the contents of the 

pull-tab. If the customer wishes to have the contents shown on the video display, he or she may 

do so by pushing a "verifl" button. The "verifjr" fbnction then displays in spinning reel graphics, 

one screen at a time, the ten lines on the pull-tab, so that the visual affect is the same as having 

made ten plays on a traditional video slot machine. For example, a line on a pull-tab might be 

three 7's, a winning pattern which, when it comes up on the video screen, would be accompanied 

by electronic bells and flashing lights. The customer may choose not to use the "verify" button 

and may determine whether he or she has won in the traditional fashion, i.e. by opening the pulltab and reading it. All players must collect winnings from a cashier and must read their pull-tabs 

to determine whether or not a bonus has been won. 

Our review of the earlier version of this game led us to conclude that, based upon the 

rationale of the court in Diamond Game Enterprises, Inc. v. Rena, 9 F. Supp. 2d 13 (D.D.C. 

1998), the earlier version of "Play Pull-tab" was a class I11 game. Notwithstanding the very 

thorough legal presentation you have made and the changes which the company has made to the 

A pull-tab deal is a factory-assembled group of pull-tabs (the group can be any size, e.g. 

20,000 or 50,000) which contains a pre-determined number of winners. For example, a deal of 

50,000 pull-tabs might contain payoffs ranging from three $2400 prizes to fifty thousand J.25 

prizes. 

1441 L STREET, N.W. DTH FWOR WASHINQTON, D.C. 20005 TEL: 202-632-7003 FAX: 202-632-7066 
game, in our view the machine is still a gambling device within the meaning of the Johnson Act2 

and still cannot be played on Indian lands without a tribal-state compact. " 4 

We are in the process of issuing regulations which will establish a formal mechanism for 

classifying games, but until that time classification opinions such as this are advisory in nature only 

and do not constitute a final decision of the Commission. This opinion will, though, guide the 

Commission in deciding whether or not to pursue enforcement action against a particular Indian 

gaming operation that may be playing "Play Pull-Tab." 

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. 

General Counsel 

'(w 

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 

The Johnson Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1171(a) defines a gambling device to be a machine 

designed and manufactured primarily for use in gambling, by the operation of which a,person may 

become entitled to receive money, as the result of the application of an element of chance. 

Notwithstanding that the deal at the factory determines which pull-tabs will be winners, the 

Johnson Act clearly covers "Play Pull-Tab." The machine is indisputably designed for gambling, 

and in its operation the player pays consideration, obtains a chance and determines whether or not ,~f a prize has been earned.