What are pull tabs, the Midwest’s favorite bar game?
(NEXSTAR) — Bars are known for a multitude of entertainment offerings. From the jukebox to karaoke and from darts to pool, there’s almost no limit to the activities you can partake in at a tavern.
But in the Midwest, there’s one bit of entertainment that bargoers can’t seem to resist: pull tabs.
Pull tabs aren’t an offering you’ll only find around the Great Lakes. They’ve been around since the 1970s, starting as a fundraising tool for charities, according to the National Association of Fundraising Ticket Manufacturers (NAFTM).
They’re much like any other lottery game you may play. Pull tabs are often a card with perforated tabs that open to one side and reveal numbers, letters, or symbols. If you’re able to match those characters in certain configurations, you’ll have a chance at a prize. Here’s a picture of some from Minnesota.
The NAFTM explains that pull tabs have numerous aliases, including break open tickets, charity game cards, jar tickets, Nevada tickets, pickle cards, instant bino, or lucky seven.
You’re also likely to find them throughout the U.S. and even into Canada. But they hold a certain lore in the Midwest.
NAFTM records show Minnesota is far and away among the most popular spot for pull tab players. According to NAFTM’s 2019 report, players wagered nearly $1.97 billion through the purchase of pull tabs in Minnesota alone, more than the next three states — Texas, Kentucky, and Indiana — combined.
Minnesota’s neighbor, Wisconsin, is no stranger to the powerful pull tabs either.
“We’re catching up,” Dayton Young, the president, CEO, and co-owner of Wisconsin Souvenir Milkcaps, previously told Milwaukee Magazine when discussing the popularity of pull tabs in the Badger State.
Your Old Fashioned won’t be the same in Wisconsin: Here’s why
Young and his company, which was started by his grandfather, Walter Bohrer, help bring pull tabs to various venues across Wisconsin, like taverns and bars. If you’ve been to the Wisconsin State Fair, you’ve seen their product in the Exposition Center.
The pull tabs in Wisconsin, at least those from Wisconsin Souvenir Milkcaps, vary from those you may find elsewhere. That’s thanks to a legal battle Young’s grandfather, Bohrer, fought.
Wisconsin has strict rules surrounding gambling, with state law saying “any activity that involves the elements of consideration (payment), prize, and chance is gambling and illegal unless authorized by Wisconsin Law.” Since you have to pay for the pull tabs, in which you have chances to win a prize, you might think they’d be illegal. However, pull tabs distributed by Wisconsin Souvenir Milkcaps offer collectible pop-out milkcaps, which are similar to the once-popular pogs, which contributed to Bohrer’s legal victory.
In addition to the value of the milkcaps, the company lists other reasons why their promotions are legal: you don’t have to pay to play, end dates and odds are printed on the tickets, the tickets are randomly distributed, and winners have their names withheld for a year if they win $100 or more.
The tickets Wisconsin Souvenir Milkcaps distribute benefit non-profits or “good causes,” according to Young. That includes the VFW, breast cancer awareness, and the Wisconsin Tavern League’s SafeRide program.
Legalities and collectible milkcaps aside, what makes pull tabs so popular in Wisconsin?
“I think there is kind of a social aspect,” Young told Nexstar. “It’s become a part of our tavern culture within the state. It’s a little social recreation while you’re enjoying yourself with friends over a beverage or a bite to eat.”
And don’t forget the “mild thrill” of unzipping the pull tabs to reveal whether you’ve won.
Who is Miller High Life’s ‘Girl in the Moon’?
Of Wisconsin Souvenir Milkcaps’ current promotions, the most you can win is $500. The Wisconsin Lottery also offers pull tab games at its retailers, with the highest payouts on some of the tickets being just $100.
There’s a chance you’re reading this and thinking, “Hey, I’ve played pull tabs in my state, and I don’t live in Minnesota or Wisconsin.” And that’s true, pull tabs are legal in roughly 20 states, though you may call them by a different name (remember before when we said some call them pickle cards?).
But they seem to be extra popular across Minnesota and Wisconsin, two states with among the most excessive drinkers and strict gambling laws. Pull tabs are also popular in Alaska, a state that doesn’t participate in national lotteries like Powerball and Mega Millions — on average, the games send $25 million a year to charities in the state, according to KDLL. Alaska non-profits or municipalities can apply to host pull tabs and other “games of chance,” only if the revenue supports an approved charitable endeavor.
Depending on where you go, you may even see virtual pull tab games. E-pull tabs have become very popular in North Dakota, for example, but it’s causing concerns for lawmakers and tribal nations, whose casinos are economic drivers.
E-pull tab machines also, of course, negate the satisfaction of unzipping the tabs.
