Bingo Battle Heats Up

Who knew bingo was so controversial?

In recent months, Sacramento has seen a legal and media battle over charity bingo halls. The California Tribal Business Alliance (CTBA) and the Attorney General have been trying to shut down several charity bingo halls they say aren't complying with the rules set out for the game in state law. These so-called bingo parlors, they say, resemble Vegas casinos, with electronic "bingo" machines that look and play like slot machines or video poker.

The California Charity Bingo Association has fought back with an ad campaign accusing "powerful special interest groups" wanting to cut off money for disabled veterans and sick children.

Charity bingo was legalized by a voter initiative in 1976. Over the last 30-plus years, it has provided millions of dollars for charities, according to Bingo Association lobbyist Ravi Mehta.

"People felt that charities should have a source of revenue so they're not always out there with their hand out," Mehta said.
In the 1980s, Mehta said, California Indian tribes decided they wanted to get in on the act. The state tried to block them, he said, but won the right to conduct bingo games in court. Many of the big tribal casinos also use bingo gaming machines, that don't count against their slot machine total.

"It's absolutely hypocritical," Mehta said. "These are the same arguments made against the tribes, and the tribes prevailed. Now the tribes are making the same arguments. These are not slot machines. These are legal bingo machines, just like the tribes have."

For more information, please see Malcolm Maclachlan, Tribes, bingo operators at war, Capitol Weekly, August 14, 2008.