Wisconsin Pull Tabs Have a Fascinating Secret Most Players Don’t Know

I’ve spent years pulling tabs at Wisconsin lodge bars without ever stopping to wonder how this little gambling tradition became such a big part of Wisconsin bar culture, and the truth is pretty fascinating.

Wisconsin Souvenir Milkcaps

Pull Tabs Obsession

Every time we stop at the lodge when we're at our family cabin in Wisconsin, I must do these three things:

1. Order a lodge pizza.
2. Drink a Spotted Cow beer.
3. Buy some pull tabs.

The top drawer of my nightstand at the cabin may be filled with pull-tab winners that I have failed to cash in yet, but I will continue to buy them with hopes some day I'll pull a big winner.

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I have pulled more tabs in Wisconsin than I could ever begin to count, but there is one things I never knew about them... until today.

Wisconsin Gambling Laws

Before today, I always thought pull tabs were just one of those things Wisconsin bars had.

I had absolutely no idea about Wisconsin's complicated gambling history, and that pull tabs are a thing thanks to one very clever legal workaround.

The truth is, Wisconsin spent generations with some of the strictest anti-gambling laws in the country, and today, Wisconsin's gambling laws are still pretty specific.

And that's where Wisconsin pull tabs get REALLY interesting.

Fascinating Legal Story Behind Wisconsin Pull Tabs

Pull tabs themselves weren't originally a Wisconsin invention. They grew out of older punchboard games and became popular across the country decades ago, but Wisconsin really embraced them.

Here comes the weird part.

Wisconsin law generally prohibits gambling when you have the classic combination of prize, chance and consideration. Basically, you can't just take someone's money, give them a random chance to win more money and call it a day.

So, how did pull tabs survive?

They got creative.

A post from Wisconsin Field Guide on Facebook says:

Walter Bohrer built a company called Wisconsin Souvenir Milkcaps inspired by the old pog craze from his youth, and he figured out a way to sell what is technically gambling without technically breaking Wisconsin's gambling laws. The trick is that every pull tab sold in a Wisconsin bar comes bundled with a collectible pop out milkcap, which gave the whole operation just enough legal cover to argue it wasn't really gambling, it was a prize redemption attached to a souvenir.

Yep.

That's the clever workaround that's completely legal according to Wisconsin law.  Here's an example:

So while we're sitting in a Wisconsin bar thinking, "Come on, just one more," the legal system is basically saying, "Technically, you're buying a collectible."

Sure. Whatever you say, Wisconsin.

Yes, I will still buy pull tabs the next time I'm at the lodge in Wisconsin... for the cardboard collectibles, of course.