Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement (AGE) has a staff of sworn special agents who handle criminal and gaming license background investigations in the areas of legalized gaming, including:

• lawful/charitable gambling (e.g., pull-tabs, bingo, raffles, paddlewheels and tip boards)
• gambling devices (e.g., slot machines, roulette, craps tables, electronic simulated gaming devices)
• Minnesota Lottery
• pari-mutuel horse racing

• pari-mutuel card rooms 

  (A Pari-mutuel betting system is where all the money bet on something is pooled together. After taking out costs, the remaining money is divided among the winners, based on how much they bet).

Additional criminal investigations include illegal activities such as:

• sports betting
• illegal lotteries
• lottery fraud scams

AGE also has regulatory gaming authority to issue and regulate gaming device licenses. Also, under the State-Tribal Compacts, AGE is the primary state agency granted authority to monitor and conduct inspections of Class III games (e.g., Black Jack tables and gaming devices) at all tribal casinos in the state.

Responsibilities of our gambling enforcement unit:

Licensing of manufacturers and distributors of gambling devices: 

• AGE conducts background investigations of applicants seeking licenses to distribute or manufacture gambling devices. Additionally, AGE performs gaming license and vendor investigations for entities such as the Minnesota Racing Commission, Minnesota State Lottery, and Minnesota Gambling Control Board.

Gambling criminal enforcement and investigation: 

• AGE serves as the primary state law enforcement agency responsible for investigating crimes and violations related to both legal and unlawful forms of gambling. Special agents within AGE utilize various techniques such as surveillance, game audits, counterfeit detection and forgery detection to identify violations of state gambling laws. These investigations are then submitted to county attorneys for potential criminal charges against individual violators, and/or regulatory sanctions may be sought for violations involving state licensees.

Assuring compliance with state tribal compacts: 

• AGE is tasked with ensuring compliance with the tribal/state compact agreement. This includes monitoring and inspecting gaming operations within tribal facilities.  AGE also conducts background investigations of tribal employees and management officials and responds to player complaints regarding various machines or games. However, it's important to note that AGE does not have the authority to settle disputes with tribal casinos.