Bingo halls hit two winning cards Wednesday – in the courtroom and in the state Legislature – buoying the hopes of charities and fundraising volunteers who rely on bingo to pay for high school sport programs and other extracurricular activities as well as programs for the blind and disabled.
A Southern California lawmaker's bill banning electronic bingo died in an Assembly committee hours after a Sacramento federal judge ruled electronic bingo machines could continue to be played while the case is fought in the courts.
Judy Mason, president of El Camino High School's booster club, said the news was "fabulous," adding, "I hope that it's dead for now. But I know it's going to rear its ugly head again."
Electronic bingo, or e-bingo as it's sometimes called, has been on thin legal ice for years. The game has become a major attraction for new players at bingo parlors whose audience is aging.
Months after Sacramento County passed an ordinance spelling out which types of electronic bingo games were acceptable, the California attorney general's office raised doubts.
An order in August 2007 reiterated a long-standing state Justice Department position that bingo involves paper games, ink daubers and live callers.
But until May, the state had not taken any action. That ended with Attorney General Jerry Brown's office ordering several local bingo operations to stop using the machines within 30 days.
For the complete story, please see Ed Fletcher, Two victories for e-bingo in Sacramento The Sacramento Bee, June 25, 2008.
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