BARRE, Vt. -
If you frequent your local watering hole every now and then, you may have heard about items called "pull tabs" or "break open tickets."
They're kind of like a lottery tickets but the government doesn't regulate them. Proceeds go to non-profits. That could soon change, if a portion of Governor Peter Shumlin's proposed budget is passed.
"Give me ten of those," Brandon Klarich said to the bartender.
I caught up with Klarich at his favorite watering hole in Montpelier. He says every week he spends about ten bucks on pull tabs or break open tickets.
"This time it looks like we didn't win anything," Klarich said after opening each pull tab to see if any of the images matched. But because all the proceeds go to non profits, he keeps playing.
"A couple of my nieces go to the Catholic School over in Barre," he said.
And at that particular establishment, that's where the money from the tickets goes. Other bars I checked in with support little league baseball, fire departments and the VFW.
"A lot of money goes out of here to charity," Grant Blow said, from Gusto's in Barre.
At Gusto's, they sell about 3,000 tickets a week. But there's no official number for the state, because there's currently no oversight. Vermont officials can only guess that as many as 250-million tickets are sold each year, and because of that want to tax and regulate them.
I asked Jeb Spaulding, the Vermont Secretary of Administration, "do you worry that non profits will get less money from this?" He said, "well we think if we actually clean up and make sure that there are no shenanigans going on that we can make up the ten percent and increase revenues for the non profits as well."
I asked Blow, "does the bar get any money out of it?" He said, "no, not at all."
Right now, ten bucks gets you ten tickets, but if they're taxed it could cost you a dollar more for the same number of tickets.
The government believes the tax could generate 17 million dollars. That money would go toward energy efficiency efforts and home heating assistance for low income Vermonters.
Many of the nonprofit clubs like the Elks say they're likely to be hit hardest by this tax, but the Governor's proposal includes giving some of the clubs or bars a portion of the revenue.
Liquor Control would be the department that regulates the tickets.
