CC PACKET 06222004 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

City Council Regular Meeting Minutes June 8, 2004 06 Page 6 1 charitable gambling in the City. However, before issuing a permit premises allowing lawful 2 gambling at a location in the City,Minnesota law requires the Board to notify'the City Council 3 and the City Council must approve the issuance of the premises permit by resolution. 4 5 The Minnesota Attorney General has opined that under this authority the City can regulate the 6 following with respect to lawful gambling in its jurisdiction: 7 8 A. Determine what kind of lawful gambling can take place; 9 B. Specify hours of operation; 10 C. Specify where it can and cannot occur; 11 D. Limit the number of sites where it will be allowed; and 12 E. Prohibit lawful gambling altogether. 13 14 While Minnesota law requires the approval of the City Council before the Gambling Control 15 Board can issue a premises permit for a licensed organization to conduct gambling in the City, 16 the statute does not offer any guidance with respect to reasons that the City Council may 17 disapprove an organization's application. If it wished to do so the City Council could develop 18 criteria on which to base its decision. However, this criteria should probably not limit approval 19 to only locally based organizations as the Minnesota Attorney General has opined that a city 20 limiting approval of lawful gambling to only locally based organizations may be a possible 21 violation of the equal protection clause of the Minnesota and United States Constitution. 22 23 While the City may not be able to adopt an ordinance which would limit charitable gambling in 24 the City to only locally based organizations, I believe that the City could include in its ordinance 25 on charitable gambling a provision that provides that charitable gambling is limited to only one 26, location in the City and that only one licensed organization is permitted to conduct charitable 27 gambling at that location. By doing so the City may be able to effectively retain control of 28 which licensed organization conduct charitable gambling in the City. If in the future the Council 29 wishes to expand the number of locations where charitable gambling may be conducted, it could 30 then amend the ordinance. 31 32 As I previously advised you,the City may by ordinance require a licensed organization 33 conducting lawful gambling in the City to expend within the City's trade area all or a portion of 34 it expenditure for lawful purposes of its gross profits. The ordinance must define the City's trade 35 are and specify the percentage of lawful purposes expenditure to be expended within the trade 36 area. The City's trade are must include at a minimum each city contiguous to the City. Should 37 the City Council wish to require an organization to make all or a portion of its expenditures 38 within the City's trade area, set forth below is proposed new Section 535.03 of the City Code 39 which it would be included in the ordinance the City council is presently considering on 40 charitable gambling: 41 42 "Section 535.03. Expenditure by Licensed Organization Conducting Lawful Gambling_ 43 Each licensed organization conducing lawful gambling within the City must expend_percent 44 of its lawful purpose expenditures on lawful purposes conducted or located within the trade area 45 of the City. The trade area of the City for this purpose shall include the City and all cities 46 contiguous to the City. This section applies only to lawful purpose expenditures of gross profits 47 derived from lawful gambling conducted on the premises within the City. At the end of each