A BILL for an Act to amend and reenact section 53-06.1-11.2 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to transfers from the charitable gaming operating fund to the gambling disorder prevention and treatment fund; and to authorize a full-time equivalent position for the department of health and human services.
SB2393 would change how money in North Dakota’s charitable gaming operating fund is distributed. The bill increases the quarterly transfer to the gambling disorder prevention and treatment fund from $10,000 to $33,500 and specifies that the money may be used for gambling disorder prevention and treatment activities, including staffing for the Department of Health and Human Services. It also authorizes one full-time equivalent position in that department for the 2025-2027 biennium to support those activities.
The bill keeps the existing framework for distributing remaining charitable gaming operating fund money, including the five percent allocation to cities and counties based on gaming tax collections, and the rule that small allocations under $200 are not paid out but redistributed. It also retains the requirement that excess accumulated funds in the charitable gaming operating fund be certified by the attorney general and transferred to the general fund at the end of each biennium.
If enacted, SB2393 would amend section 53-06.1-11.2 of the North Dakota Century Code to increase the dedicated funding stream for gambling disorder prevention and treatment and to formally authorize staffing for the Department of Health and Human Services. The bill would not overhaul the charitable gaming distribution system, but it would redirect a larger share of operating fund resources to behavioral health-related services while preserving local government allocations and the biennial transfer of excess funds to the general fund.
The bill appears to have been aimed at strengthening support for gambling addiction prevention and treatment, with a modest administrative staffing component. However, the bill ultimately failed on February 24, 2025, and there is no recorded committee transcript or vote history in the provided materials to show active support or opposition. Based on the text alone, the proposal seems policy-focused and targeted rather than broadly controversial, but the failure indicates it did not secure enough legislative backing.
The main policy tension in SB2393 is between increasing funding for gambling disorder prevention and treatment and preserving other uses of charitable gaming revenues, including local city and county distributions and transfers to the general fund. Potential points of contention would likely include whether the increased diversion to the gambling disorder fund is justified, whether the Department of Health and Human Services needs a dedicated FTE, and whether charitable gaming revenues should be used for public health services versus broader state or local budget purposes. No specific objections or supporters are documented in the provided record.