There is no specific regulation against pull-tabs but they fall into a penumbra of illegality in Nevada, even if there are pull-tab games out there with names like Nevada Tickets. But, before we get to some informed speculation on why pull-tabs can’t be found in Nevada (which doesn’t have a state lottery, either), here’s some explanation for our Silver State readers of what pull tabs are.
It’s a perforated ticket with windows. You open these "tabs" to expose numbers that – if you are lucky – correspond to a pre-printed number combination that is found on the front of the ticket. They are sold both over the counter and from vending machines, in denominations ranging from a quarter to $5. Payouts can run into multiple thousands of dollars. What makes pull-tab gambling different from many other forms is that a finite number of tickets are printed. Instead of playing against the house, your competition is other ticket buyers. And, unlike slot play or blackjack, each losing play theoretically brings you closer to a win, as it reduces the number of pull tabs in circulation. When the prize pool has been exhausted, the game is retired from circulation.
"Jar bars," from which pull tabs are dispensed in some states, are accompanied by tally sheets known as "flares." These list the so-called major winners still in play. A major winner is quantified as a ticket 50X or more the price paid for the ticket. The faster that major winners are redeemed, the shorter the lifespan of the game. "No other finite-probability based game provides more information to players about the status of the game," says one source. This is even more the case with mechanized pull tab games, which tell you the number of chances of a prize for each deal.
In addition to the winning combination, players are apprised in advance of the cash payouts, the total number of tickets in circulation and the number of those that are potential winners. While pull-tab gambling is widespread in the U.S., no state has such an appetite for it as Minnesota. "You do see some Native American casinos that still sell pull-tabs, specifically somewhere like Minnesota, which has pull-tab bars of sorts all through the state," confirms Raving Consulting President Dennis Conrad. "Tribes may have it just because there are people that play pull-tabs." Minnesotans’ fever for pull tabs is so great that, in 2012, the Legislature permitted new electronic devices that permit pull-tab play on handheld tablets. However, they are forbidden by law to have any characteristics that mimic slot machines.
Conrad attributes the early popularity of pull tabs in Indian Country to many tribes’ restriction to bingo-like games, in which players competed against one another. Paper pull tabs and bingo eventually gave way to electronic simulations, which is what most Class II casinos (as they’re called under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act) have. "The genius of [tribes] was to turn them into slot opportunities," Conrad says of these Class II devices, which produce a pull-tab result with a video display that mimics a slot-machine experience.
This suggests a couple of reasons why Nevada doesn’t have pull-tabs. One is that the technology may be too primitive for Silver State casinos to bother with it. (When was the last time you played electronic bingo on a Nevada slot floor?) Also, they’re not "house games" and the casino industry has only grudgingly yielded to games – skill-based slots, anyone? – in which players aren’t playing against the house. Besides, slot machines are a much more efficient and speedy way of making money.
For a definitive answer, we turned to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. "I believe it’s because pull-tabs are a form of a lottery and the Legislature has not authorized a lottery," said Enforcement Division Supervisor Kristi Marusich. Even charitable groups have been turned down for pull-tab gambling, she said. Article 4, Section 24 of the Nevada constitution holds that lottery activities are illegal in Nevada, except for drawings or raffles, leaving pull tabs out in the cold.
