Some of the weird laws in North Dakota that people repeat online are myths or long-repealed, but a handful of genuinely unusual rules are still active: anyone throwing a public dance has to hire sheriff-approved security, retail fireworks can only be sold on 20 specific calendar days each year, and charitable gambling runs under wager caps that feel frozen in another decade.
Public Dances Require Police You Pay For
Under North Dakota Century Code Chapter 53-02, anyone organizing a public dance, music festival, or concert must notify the local sheriff or chief peace officer before the event. The officer decides how many deputies or special security officers the event needs, and the organizer pays for all of them up front. No event can go forward without officers physically present and their fees paid in full.1North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Code Chapter 53-02 – Dances, Dancing Places, and Musical Performances
A “public dance” under the chapter is any dance open to the public at a venue with capacity of at least 100 people, where attendees are there primarily to dance. The security personnel can’t have a financial interest in the event itself. Holding a public dance without notifying law enforcement is a class B misdemeanor, carrying up to 30 days in jail, a $1,500 fine, or both.1North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Code Chapter 53-02 – Dances, Dancing Places, and Musical Performances2Justia Law. North Dakota Century Code Title 12.1, Chapter 12.1-32 – Classification of Offenses – Penalties
Fireworks Can Only Be Sold on 20 Days a Year
North Dakota Century Code 23-15-01 lets licensed retailers sell fireworks during two narrow windows: June 27 through July 5, and December 26 through January 1. Retail sales outside those 20 calendar days are illegal, and buyers have to be at least 12.3Justia Law. North Dakota Century Code Title 23, Chapter 23-15 – Fireworks
The list of what can actually be sold reads like an engineering spec. The statute individually approves star lights, helicopter flyers, cylindrical fountains (maximum 75 grams, tube diameter no wider than three-quarters of an inch), cone fountains, wheels, sparklers, and soft-shell firecrackers, each with its own weight ceiling. Small bottle rockets face a size restriction in the other direction: retailers cannot sell any skyrocket with a casing diameter under five-eighths of an inch and a length under three and a half inches. Roman candles show up in the statute’s definition of “fireworks” but are absent from the list of items approved for retail sale, which keeps them off store shelves.3Justia Law. North Dakota Century Code Title 23, Chapter 23-15 – Fireworks
Any violation of the fireworks chapter is a class B misdemeanor: up to 30 days in jail, a $1,500 fine, or both.3Justia Law. North Dakota Century Code Title 23, Chapter 23-15 – Fireworks2Justia Law. North Dakota Century Code Title 12.1, Chapter 12.1-32 – Classification of Offenses – Penalties
Charitable Gambling Caps That Feel Frozen in Time
North Dakota permits gambling only through a tightly regulated charitable gaming system under NDCC Chapter 53-06.1. Only eligible nonprofits can hold a license, and games must be run by members, volunteers, or employees of the licensed organization. A bar employee can help sell pull tabs or raffle tickets, but only with specific authorization from the attorney general.4North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Code Chapter 53-06.1 – Games of Chance
The wagering numbers are the odd part. At a charity blackjack table, the minimum starting wager can’t exceed $3, and the maximum per wager is capped at $25. Players are limited to two hands at a time. Any site where blackjack generates more than $10,000 in gross proceeds per quarter has to install video surveillance approved by the attorney general before allowing wagers above $2. Single cash raffle prizes cannot exceed $25,000, and total cash prizes in a single day hit the same ceiling. Organizations are capped at 10 electronic pull tab devices per location.4North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Code Chapter 53-06.1 – Games of Chance
Age rules split by game. No one under 21 can play pull tabs, blackjack, poker, paddlewheels, or sports pools. For bingo, players under 18 just need an adult companion, unless the game runs under a permit with a limited prize structure.4North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Code Chapter 53-06.1 – Games of Chance
A Sunday Shopping Leftover That Still Bites Landlords
North Dakota repealed its Sunday morning retail ban in 2019, so stores can now open whenever they want. One fragment of the old regime survives in the code. Under NDCC 12.1-30-04, it remains a class A misdemeanor for a landlord or franchisor to contractually require a retail tenant to open on Sundays under any agreement executed before January 1, 2019. That offense carries up to 360 days in jail and a $3,000 fine.5North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Code Chapter 12.1-30 – Sunday Business Restrictions2Justia Law. North Dakota Century Code Title 12.1, Chapter 12.1-32 – Classification of Offenses – Penalties
What Isn’t Actually a Law
Several famous “weird North Dakota laws” don’t hold up. The claim that beer can’t be served with pretzels traces back to a 1946 “food divorcement” law that banned food and liquor sales in the same establishment. That law was repealed years ago, and modern liquor licensing under NDCC Chapter 5-02 contains no food restrictions at all.6North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Code 5-02 – Retail Licensing
The unlawful cohabitation statute, which criminalized unmarried couples living together, was repealed in 2007.7Justia Law. North Dakota Century Code Title 12.1, Chapter 12.1-20 – Sex Offenses The story that Fargo once banned keeping horses in bathtubs appears on countless unusual-law lists, but no Fargo municipal ordinance or North Dakota statute supports it. The same goes for the frequently cited rule against wearing a hat while dancing: it doesn’t appear in Chapter 53-02 or any identifiable Fargo ordinance. The real dance hall law is strange enough without it.