Printed below and over the next several pages is the 1999 ACM Annual
Address presented by Duane Thompson, President and King Wilson,
Executive Director of Allied Charities of Minnesota on Saturday,
November 20, 1999 at The 9th Annual Minnesota Lawful Gambling Convention
& Expo in St. Cloud:

Duane Thompson Remarks

 Good evening ..... on behalf of the Board of Directors of Allied
Charities of Minnesota I would like to officially welcome you to the 9th
Annual ACM Lawful Gambling Convention & Expo.  It is indeed great to be
back in St. Cloud.  We hope you are enjoying St. Cloud and are finding
the training seminars and Expo productive.

 I want to thank all of the forty-eight exhibitors who participated in
this year's Expo ... especially those who have been with us for all of
our Expo's over the years.  Their support and participation have been a
significant factor in the success of the Convention & Expo.

 This year marks the 9th anniversary of Allied Charities Minnesota
Lawful Gambling Convention and Expo.  We are delighted that for the
first time we have topped 2600 persons in attendance in this Convention
& Expo.

 We believe the ACM Lawful Gambling Convention & Expo mirrors the
success and progress ACM has had as an organization these past nine
years.

 Allied Charities is the largest charitable gambling organization in the
United States.  You represent over one-half million individuals whose
organizations are involved in charitable gambling in virtually every
community in Minnesota.  We should be proud of how we have been able to
help our communities with our charitable gambling proceeds... and
continue the fight to keep as much of those proceeds in our local
communities as possible.

 The past six years I have had the privilege to serve as President of
Allied Charities .... and to serve with a very dedicated Board of
Directors.  During that time ACM and the Board has matured.  Our
committee structure is working well and the organization is running
smoothly.  A volunteer organization like ours is only as good as its
Board ... so it's no coincidence that we've been so successful over the
years with our tremendous Board of Directors leading the way.

 And now I would like to ask the ACM Board members to please stand-up
and be recognized as I call your name .... Please hold your applause
until I've introduced the entire Board:

Karen Wirkus, Climb, Inc., Inver Grove Heights, Vice President & Region
12 Director;

Erv Bernard, Fridley Knights of Columbus, Treasurer and Director at
Large;

John Vaydich, Duluth Softball Players Assn, Secretary & Region 3
Director;

Ken Ayers, Albert Lea Eagles, Region 10 Director;

Sharyn Busswitz, Avoca American Legion, Region 8 Director;

Scott Conrad, Duluth Elks Lodge, Director-at-Large;

Gabe Ducharme, North Country Snowmobile Club, Bemidji, Region 2
Director;

Karen Frericks, Schola Foundation, Mankato, Director-at-Large;

Tim Hunt, Alborn Sno Devils Snowmobile Club, Director at Large;

Milton Johnson, Montivideo American Legion, Region 6 Director

Dave Klein, Chamberlain-Goudy VFW, Mound, Region 11 Director;

Chuck Latta, Onamia Lions, and Region 7 Director;

Carroll Lunos, Warroad Area Community Center, Director at Large;

Duane Lundemo, Roseau American Legion, Region 1 Director;

Bob Matson, North Suburban Youth Assn, Roseville,  Director at Large;

Marv Reick, Courtland Lions, Region 9 Director; &

Maureen Vachuska, Immaculate Conception Church, Columbia Heights,
Director at Large.

 Let's give them all a round of applause for a job well done .......
Thank you members of the board for all of your help and work this past
year.  The work you do is very much appreciated by all here today!

 I have been privileged to serve as president of Allied Charities the
last six years.  As an organization we've met the challenge, but need to
continue to be ever watchful of negative changes imposed on our
industry.  We must also continue to work hard to attack one of the most
significant problem facing us today -- the over taxation imposed on us
by the State of Minnesota.

 I'll let King Wilson talk about that in more detail in his comments
.... but I continue to believe that we must keep our guard up at all
times and work to keep more of our hard-earned proceeds in our
communities.

 ACM will also continued to work to keep you better informed through our
newsletter, legislative updates and other special mailings, our regional
meetings and  internet home page.

 Your continued support of ACM has been a key factor in our
organizational successes ....

 At this time I would like to introduce our executive director to
outline the major issues we are faced with today and our strategies to
keep us moving forward into the next millennium.

 Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce to you King
Wilson.

King Wilson Remarks

 Thank you Duane.  Let me begin by congratulating Duane, the rest of the
ACM officers, and the entire Board on a job well done  -- we've made
excellent progress under Duane's and our Board's leadership ....  It has
been a pleasure working with all of the people associated with ACM over
the past 11 years.

 St. Cloud, in addition to being the birthplace of this Convention &
Expo, is special to me personally because I was introduced to ACM at the
1988 ACM Annual Meeting at the St. Cloud American Legion.  It was after
that meeting I decided I needed to get involved in what was happening to
us at the capitol, and concluded that the best way to do that was
through a then fledgling organization called Allied Charities of
Minnesota.

 We've come a long way since that day .... and over the years we've had
our successes and we've experienced disappointments.  But overall, we've
made tremendous strides in working with the legislature, other elected
officials, and the Gambling Control Board.  ACM has truly become the
voice of charitable gambling in Minnesota.

 I look forward to continuing our steady progress in the years ahead and
working to keep charitable gambling viable well into the next
millennium!

 Before I get too far into my comments I would like to again thank
Chairman Abrams for his willingness to take time out of his very busy
schedule to be with us at our Convention & Expo.  We appreciate hearing
his insights on state tax policy and look forward to working with him in
the future.

 In addition, I'd like to thank the Gambling Control Board, Director
Harry Baltzer and his staff, and Roger Swanson and the rest of the
Department of Revenue staff for their assistance in putting together an
excellent series of seminars for our convention.  We sincerely
appreciate your help!

 I would also like to personally thank those who made the 1999 ACM
Minnesota Lawful Gambling Convention & Expo possible.  Bob Matson, chair
of the special events committee, Karen Wirkus, chair of the education
committee, Erv Bernard for coordinating the seminar tickets, and Maureen
Vachuska for handling work schedules, Sharyn Busswitz for working the
Welcome/Information Booth, Scott Conrad for coordinating the signs, Gabe
Ducharme for coordinating the transportation, Karen Frerichs for helping
with the registration booth, and Carroll Lunos for coordinating the
trade show floor and all of the rest of the volunteers who helped make
this possible.  Thanks to all of you for a job well done.

 I am happy to report to you that again this past year we continued to
make incremental progress on one of our major issues ... our very
onerous tax rates.  This past session we again focused on the passage of
a tax reduction for charitable gambling in the Tax Bill and  were able
to garner a 5% reduction in charitable gambling taxes.

 With this additional tax reduction ... we are continuing to make
progress towards our ultimate 25% tax reduction goal established several
years ago.   We've seen our taxes reduced with the refund on unsold
tickets tax in 1996 .... and  a 5% reduction in 1998 ....  and another 5
percent reduction this year .... so incrementally we are moving forward.

 But in real dollars that's $11 million more we are now able to put back
directly into our communities.  But are we happy?  Yes and no.  We are
happy that we are making progress but not happy we haven't achieved our
goal.  We still need an additional 15% reduction in our present tax
rates just to get us back into line with other states' charitable
gambling tax rates, and even then we will still be #1 in the nation in
charitable gambling tax paid.

 Consequently, our major issue continues to be our efforts to get an
additional 15% reduction in our state taxes.

 In addition to the tax issue, ACM worked this past session to allow
pull-tab dispensing machines in off-sale establishments, passed
legislation allowing the gambling control board to permit tipboard games
with multiple seals by rule .... and allows the board to adopt rules for
cumulative or carryover tipboard prizes.

 The legislature also authorized increasing from $100 to $200 the
maximum amount of a consolation prize in a progressive bingo game, and
set a $2500 prize limit for cumulative or carryover prizes in tipboard
games.  The maximum tipboard provisions will be effective when the
gambling control board adopts rules.

 On the Federal level ACM adverted a potential disaster for charitable
gambling organizations who, according to the IRS, receive private
inurement by intervening with the IRS on the excise tax issue.  When the
IRS again changed direction on us after some internal assignment shifts
... organizations were suddenly faced with the potential for large back
taxes and penalties for several years.

 Fortunately, with our direct intervention, ACM was able to convince the
IRS to start their new excise tax policy effective January 1, 1999, and
not to collect back taxes and penalties.  Considering the very confusing
and inconsistent application of this tax ... the excise tax issue
certainly warranted special consideration by the IRS.

 This past week many of you should have received our special ACM Action
Alert on the Gambling Control Board's proposed pull-tab manufacturing
rules which they intended to publish on November 29th, and as we were
delighted today to learn has been postponed again.  ACM believes these
rules will have a devastating impact on charitable gambling in
Minnesota.  These new rules will dramatically alter the way pull-tabs
are produced, sold, and most importantly, played.

 ACM believes these new rules will greatly reduce pull-tab sales -- some
think as much as 15-20% -- and drive our customers to our competitors.
How will these new rules do this??  It is very simple ... because of
what the Board is requiring of the manufacturer in these rules,
pull-tabs will be more difficult to open and the winning symbols harder
to identify.  If pull-tabs are hard to open and players throw away
winners because they can not identify
them, we will lose customers.  And .... all of this will bring more cost
to the manufacturer ... and you all know who will end up paying that
bill .... charitable gambling organizations.  All this will inevitably
lead to lower percentage prize paybacks..... again, placing us at a
competitive disadvantage.

 ACM repeatedly voiced concerns at the Public Advisory Committee
meetings on these rules, and voiced the same concerns to the Board's
Rules Committee.  We suggested alternatives measures to consider that
would pose less harm to lawful gambling organizations ... but
unfortunately ... those concerns are not reflected in the final proposed
rules.

 It has been our belief and continues to be our belief that for the few
people who abuse the system .... increasing the criminal sanctions would
be a much more effective way of dealing with this issue rather than the
18 pages of new, unworkable rules we are presently faced with.

 As a result ... we have been left with no alternative but to strongly
oppose these rules.  The ACM Board of Directors asked all charitable
gambling organizations last week in our ACM Action Alert to voice your
strong opposition to these proposed rules with Governor Ventura .... and
to do so as soon as possible.

 Several weeks ago Governor Ventura unveiled his "Big Plan" .... which
among other items included a provision for reining in rulemaking and
excessive regulation in state agencies.  These proposed rules certainly
provide the Governor with a great opportunity to put his "Big Plan" into
action by eliminating these onerous rules.

 If you haven't yet written the Governor, you need to do so
immediately.  Folks ..... the impact of these proposed rules is for real
.....  and the results will be very scary for all of us if we can't get
it turned around.  Please contact the Governor now.

 On the state level, I am please to again report to you that ACM remains
very strong and viable.  Our membership base is still over 1000
organizations from across the state.  In addition, we have 100 associate
members who believe in what we are doing and are partners with us in our
industry.

 For the eighth I spent the months of September and October traveling
the state attending regional meetings reporting to member organizations
on our progress and more importantly ..... listening to your concerns as
our members.

 Our internet home page .... www.alliedcharitiesmn.org continues to be
an important organizational tool including important meeting dates,
information on the latest on what's happening at the capitol, a member's
bulletin board, our ACM publications and loads of other useful
information.

 If you haven't had a change to use it .... please view it when you get
a chance and let us know what you think ... especially if there are ways
we can improve the web site.

 We've also updated our ACM FACT SHEET for your use in telling the
charitable gambling story.  A copy is in your packet and we'll be
sending copies to your organization in early December.  This FACT SHEET
is a handy reference for telling your story to the decision makers in
your community ... or anyone else that will listen for that matter.  Let
us know if you need additional copies of the ACM FACT SHEET, we will
make them available.  We also still have available additional copies of
our video --"Charitable Gambling, A Minnesota Community's Best Bet" if
you need any extra copies.

 On another very positive note .... in September 144 golfers joined us
for our Sixth Annual ACM/Minnesota Council on Compulsive Gambling Golf
Tourney.  This special event continues to raise funds for the Council's
Adolescent Compulsive Gambling Prevention Program.  The $8,000 raised
this year brings our grand total to over $34,000 since the start of this
event.

 In addition to this event, the Council also receives many generous
donations from our member organizations over the course of the year ...
so with the golf tourney and your
generous contributions over $70,000 has been raised. I would like to
thank you for your help.

 At our annual meeting yesterday, you ... the members of ACM, ratified a
recommendation by the Board to ask for the remaining 15% across the
board tax reduction for charitable gambling.  That again will be a major
thrust of our legislative program for this coming session.  But ... in
order for us to succeed, we again need your help.

 The tax relief we have been able to obtained would not have happened
without your willingness to contact your legislator and explain to them
why you thought our taxes were unfair.  If we are going to be successful
in the 2000 session, we'll all need to re-double our efforts for the
coming session.

 I know you must be tired of us asking for your continued help.  Well,
quite frankly, we are tired of having to ask for it -- just like we are
tired of having to go to the legislature and continually ask for a fair
tax structure.  But I guess we are all even more tired and fed-up with
paying the unfair state taxes ..... so until we get the tax relief we
deserve, we'll just keep asking you for the help.

 Just take a minute and think about what you've accomplished with the
extra monies that your organization has received with the unsold ticket
tax refund, or how you will be able to use the extra funds as a result
of the last two session's 10% reduction in taxes ...... and then ask
yourself if a few phone calls or letters to your legislators was worth
what you received back.  I think you'll agree that the extra money back
into your coffers has paid dividends in your programming and in your
community .... and will continue to pay dividends well into the future.

 The extra $11 million annually going back into our communities is all
put directly back into our programs and community efforts .... let's
never lose sight of that.

 An additional 15% tax reduction for us would mean an added $9 million
dollars directly back into our communities.  We believe these funds are
worth fighting for and we will continue that fight until we
succeed!!     If we all work together towards our goal it can and will
happen.  Our tax relief effort has to start at the grassroots level with
you and your recipient organizations .... and it must start soon.  When
you get home ... ask your local legislators to attend one of your
organization's upcoming meetings and explain to them what this tax
relief will mean to their community.  If they can't make it to your
meeting .... arrange a time to meet with them with several of your
members to talk with them about charitable gambling and our tax
situation. Anything you can do at the grassroots level makes our job
that much easier and productive in St. Paul.  And don't forget to ask
your local legislators if they would also be willing to co-author
legislation to reduce our taxes. If they would please let us know as
soon possible.

 The bottom line is that you must start now to ask your local legislator
for help.  The 2000 session begins February 1st so time is crucial.

Our industry continues to be strong and viable ... but we must continue
to work to keep it that way  ... we need to ever vigilant ..... to fight
harmful changes and fight to make the changes we need to remain strong
and viable far into the next millennium.

We presently face several situations where silence is not golden ....
silence by our industry will be considered acquiescence .... if
everybody in this room went home to their communities and wrote a letter
to the Governor on the proposed pull-tab manufacturing rules and
contacted your local legislators on our need for tax relief .. we would
be going a long way towards solving our two most pressing issues!

I want to thank all of you for attending our 9th Annual ACM Lawful
Gambling Convention & Expo.  We trust it has been a good experience and
you have learned more about our industry ....... and, always remember
.... if we all work together we can and will achieve our goals!!  Thank
you, enjoy the remaining seminars and we look to seeing you in Duluth
next year.