An amendment to its charitable gambling ordinance might pave the way for at least one operation to return to Long Lake in the near future.

The Long Lake City Council approved changes to sections of the ordinance including license restrictions and distribution of proceeds during its Sept. 22 meeting. The measure passed 4-0; Councilmember Sam Rettinger was absent from the meeting.

Previously, the city required that any organization conducting a charitable gambling operation - including bingo, raffles and pull tabs - must have had its headquarters or business office in the city or a contiguous city for at least two years prior to its application or that at least 15 of its members be residents of the city trade area.

City Administrator Steve Stahmer noted in a memo included in the council's packet that cities in Minnesota "no longer have the ability to restrict eligible organizations to those located in the local trade area."

The council also elected to change from requiring the operators to expend 75 percent of lawful expenditures within the trade area to 40 percent of net profits - gross profits minus allowable expenses - in addition to the 10 percent of net profits that are remitted directly to the city.

Despite the changes, the city does retain the right to deny permits if the applicant violates any "statute, rule, regulation or ordinance relating to gambling," fails to file any required reports or gives any reason that the state gambling control board would deny an application. Additionally, the operation must still be held at a "church or fraternal, veterans or other nonprofit organization or on the premises of an on-sale liquor licensee of the city."

The city is without any charitable gambling operations, Stahmer said, adding that there is a group from outside of the city's trade area that has a pending application.

As of December 2007 only the Red Rooster had pull tab operations within the city, but no longer does. In previous years pull tabs were sold at Larry's Lounge and Billy's Lighthouse, both of which have closed.

The lack of operations within the city has caused the city's charitable gambling fund, which has in the past been used to make contributions to Corn Days and Buckhorn Days, among other projects, to dwindle rapidly.

This article was first published Sept. 26 on our website, www.mnsun.com. Visit the site for your daily local news, including next-day city council and school board coverage.