Bingo Bills Bombed

Sen. Darrell Steinberg has dropped SB 1626, which would have legalized electronic bingo for charities and nonprofit organizations.

The action was the result of a favorable lower court ruling which protects bingo machines that generate more than $100,000 a year for the charity organization WIND Youth Services, who originally asked him to carry the bill.

“The WIND folks came to us awhile ago and said they felt the preliminary court order was fine for them,” said Jim Evans, a Steinberg spokesman. “But we needed to see that. After seeing it, we feel they're going to be able to do what they have been doing under the law.”

The bill, SB 1626, would have legalized electronic bingo cards, like those used in some versions of bingo machines. The measure was scheduled for its first committee hearing Tuesday.

The action also averts what would probably have become a major political battle between the gaming tribes and backers of the bill.

Tribes contend that bingo machines violate a monopoly on slot machines and other electronic gaming devices that is guaranteed in their state gambling agreements. A breach of that monopoly would allow them to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars a year in payments to the state, one tribal attorney has warned.

The president of another charity, Doug Pringle, president of Disabled Sports USA of Sacramento believes that avoiding a fight with the tribes was probably the main reason the bill was canned.

“With strong opposition from the tribes, my gut feeling was he was going to let it go,”Pringle said.

Last Monday, Sen. Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles withdrew SB 1328, which would have allowed interconnected sessions of conventional bingo and lifted the $250 limit on bingo prizes.