A prominent Las Vegas maker of gambling equipment is among the applicants vying to provide Minnesota with electronic pull tabs. John Acres says he would provide a system in which players around the state use iPads linked to a computer server in the Twin Cities.

Electronic pull tabs pulled in more than $600,000 in Minnesota during the first month of the new games. The Gambling Control Board heard a report detailing the spread of the games to bars and restaurants around the state. Some of the revenue from the games will pay the state's portion of a new Vikings stadium.

A plan to install electronic bingo and pull-tab machines in bars and restaurants is a popular suggestion when it comes to how the state could raise the money for a new Vikings stadium. But at least one expert says it would be a big gamble. The only revenue estimates we have are based on current sales, and no one can guess how customers will react to the new games.

Plenty of options are out there for how to pay for a new Vikings stadium. The governor says his preference - so far, at least - is for electronic pull tabs. As for where to put a stadium, Dayton says he has no opinion yet.

After an initial launch in the Twin Cities, electronic pull tabs are popping up in bars across the state, including in Rochester, Mankato and Duluth. The iPad-based gambling games are a state-approved revenue generator for the new $975 million Vikings stadium.

The Gambling Control Board has unanimously approved guidelines for new hand-held gambling devices in Minnesota bars and restaurants. Electronic pull-tabs and bingo games are being introduced to help fund the new Minnesota Vikings stadium in downtown Minneapolis. The board also approved a Las Vegas-based gambling equipment vendor to make the electronic devices.

The state's gaming control board on Tuesday said bar and restaurant patrons can begin playing new electronic pull-tab gambling games. At least two places in St. Paul, Mancini's restaurant and O'Gara's bar, planned to begin offering them immediately. State officials hope the devices – iPads loaded with gambling software – will bring in as much as $72 million to help pay the state's $350 million share of the new Minnesota Vikings stadium.

The governor says a plan to allow bars and restaurants to switch from paper pull-tab tickets to an electronic system has promise for funding the state's portion of a new Vikings stadium. There's no formal proposal yet to tap the funds for the stadium.