SB 1328 - Expands Bingo Rules For Charitable Groups

For years charity groups have used simple paper bingo to raise money for their causes. Bingo for Catholic parishes and schools as well as groups like the Elks has been the main source of revenue.

But due to the explosion of Indian gaming they don’t even hold the games anymore.

“Bingo 10 years ago was the number-one money-raiser in our lodge,” said Robert Rubio of Calexico, a district chairman of the Elks. “Now it's zero. No bingo at all because we have these Indian casinos around us.”

In an effort to remedy this, recent legislation, SB 1328, has been introduced by Sen. Gil Cedillo, a Los Angeles Democrat, that would allow charitable groups and organizations to go electric. The bingo sessions would be linked electronically, using audio and video links, to create a single game played at multiple locations that could offer six-figure prizes.

State law currently permits churches, charities and nonprofit groups to offer bingo with prizes of no more than $250 per game

The Elks have about 180 lodges in California, all of which could be connected in a single game that could have final grand prizes ranging from $100,000 to $200,000, Rubio said.

“We have a major project . . . handicapped children,” Rubio said of the Elks' fundraising priority. “We provide them with physicians. We have three mobile hospitals that go to different places where people have a hard time reaching doctors. Every lodge contributes to that every year.”

“Without this bill, many of our nonprofit charities will die within the next 10 years,” the Rev. Joseph Shea, pastor of the Holy Family Catholic Community in Glendale, warned in a letter to Sen. Gil Cedillo.

California's powerful gaming tribes, however, are not happy about the proposal.

The tribes' primary concern appears to be the spread of legally questionable electronic bingo machines that also are being used to raise money for charities and nonprofit groups.

While Cedillo's bill expressly declares that it does not sanction those devices, the state's dominant tribal lobby suggests it will oppose enhancing bingo as long as the machines are in use because they say that would violate the tribal-state compact.

“Even though it has nothing to do with the machines, we don't think anything should be done to help expand gaming for entities that are already violating the law,” said Susan Jensen, a spokeswoman for the 40-member California Nations Indian Gaming Association

Cedillo said California tribes, whose casinos generate nearly $8 billion a year, have nothing to fear in his measure.

“I am not trying to creep into their area,” he said. “We are simply trying to figure out a way to do things a little more efficiently, to see if we can raise a little more for the charities.”

One Capitol insider said that if the gaming tribes take a stand against this measure it could present an unusual test of the tribes' political clout.

“Everybody's got a charity in their district, not everybody's got a tribe,” said David Quintana, a tribal political consultant.

Charities and nonprofit groups in Sacramento County and scattered locations around the state introduced slot-like electronic bingo machines in recent years. They continue to operate them despite repeated warnings from the state Attorney General's Office that the machines are illegal outside of Indian casinos.

One big gaming tribe, United Auburn of suburban Sacramento, recently notified the Schwarzenegger administration that it believes the bingo machines violate a guaranteed monopoly on electronic gaming devices in its gambling agreement.

Although the administration disagrees, the tribe warned it may soon exercise its option in the event of such a breach to suspend more than $33 million a year in payments to the state.

Backers of Cedillo's bill – primarily the Catholic Church, the Elks and the California Association of Nonprofits – have created the umbrella organization Charities First to lead the effort to get the legislation passed.

With 1,100 parishes statewide, the Catholic Church conceivably could operate even bigger bingo games. The Rev. Shea predicted the legislation would allow the church and others to offer “life-altering prizes.”

Monsignor John Moretta of the Church of the Resurrection in Los Angeles, in another letter to Cedillo, said the church needs the bingo bill to save its schools, some of which already have been forced to close for a lack of funds.

“Probably the biggest beneficiaries are the Catholic schools,” said Carol Hogan, spokeswoman for the California Catholic Conference. “And, of course, Catholic schools save the state of California hundreds of millions of dollars by educating children while their parents continue to pay taxes to support the public school system.”

Privately, some close to the bill say the church has sought to remain in the background to avoid questions about whether the additional revenue is needed to help cover the massive settlements of sex-abuse lawsuits against priests.

Regardless, an anti-gambling group that represents other California churches, most of which do not play bingo, opposes the bill.

“It's an unfortunate and irresponsible effort to further expand the gambling industry in California,” said Fred Jones of the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. “When is enough, enough?”

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