Pull tabs are legal in Texas, but they live entirely inside the state's charitable bingo system, where they are called pull-tab bingo or instant bingo. Only licensed nonprofit, religious, fraternal, and veterans organizations can offer them, and generally only in connection with a licensed bingo game. The activity is governed by the Bingo Enabling Act and regulated by the Charitable Bingo Operations Division, which moved from the Texas Lottery Commission to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in 2025 under Senate Bill 3070. Texas allows paper pull-tab tickets only, not the tablet-style electronic pull-tabs found in some other states.
Who can offer pull tabs in Texas
Pull-tab bingo can only be conducted by organizations that hold a bingo license from the state. These are bona fide nonprofit groups such as charitable, religious, fraternal, and veterans organizations, along with volunteer fire departments and volunteer emergency medical services. A group must qualify and be licensed before it can sell a single pull tab.
Because pull tabs are treated as a form of bingo, an organization offers them in connection with its licensed bingo activity rather than as a standalone product. Proceeds must be used for the charitable or authorized purposes spelled out in the Bingo Enabling Act, and the division audits licensees to confirm the money is spent lawfully.
How pull-tab bingo works and where to find it
A pull-tab ticket is a small sealed cardboard card with perforated tabs. You peel or pull the tabs open to reveal symbols or numbers, then compare them to the posted flare, which is the sheet that lists the winning combinations. If your ticket matches a winner, you redeem it on the spot. Tickets may be sold at the counter or vended from an approved pull-tab dispenser, which is a machine that dispenses the paper tickets after you insert money.
In Texas you find pull tabs at licensed bingo events, which are held at commercial bingo halls and at the halls of fraternal and veterans posts, churches, and similar organizations that hold a bingo license. Unlike some states, Texas does not let a bar or club sell pull tabs on their own outside of a licensed bingo occasion.
Rules, age limits, and recent changes
The minimum age tied to bingo play is 18. Under Texas law, a person younger than 18 may play only when accompanied by a parent or guardian. Every pull-tab ticket design and every dispenser must be submitted to the state and approved before it can be used, and the state will not approve tickets with violent, profane, or explicit artwork.
Texas authorizes paper pull-tab tickets only. The electronic or tablet-style pull-tabs that some states have adopted are not authorized here, although the paper tickets may be sold through approved electronic or mechanical dispensers. The biggest recent change is administrative. In 2025, Senate Bill 3070 abolished the Texas Lottery Commission and moved charitable bingo oversight to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, so the regulator's name and website changed even though the underlying rules did not.
Where can I play pull tabs in Texas?
Licensed commercial bingo halls, plus VFW and American Legion posts, fraternal lodges, and church or nonprofit halls that hold a bingo license and run bingo occasions.
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