State AG's e-bingo mandate worries charitable parlors

Last week's raid by the state attorney general's office on bingo parlors in the Sacramento region, including one hall in the Arden Arcade area, spotlights what is expected to be a growing problem.

"It is only a matter of time before we get raided," said Doug Pringle, president of the newly formed California Charity Alliance.

Pringle operates a bingo fundraising charity out of a North Highlands bingo parlor using what he calls e-bingo, which is an electronic form of bingo on a touch-screen device designed to look like a slot machine.

Facing declining revenues, local charities are increasingly turning to e-bingo to champion their cause.

The problem is that under state law, e-bingo has been deemed illegal, even though it is allowed under a county ordinance.

"We are caught in this trap. We have to assess our options," Pringle said.

While attorneys for the bingo parlors wrestle with the cease- and-desist orders issued last week to Freelancers Bingo in south Sacramento and Sacramento Bingo on Arden Way, charities are working to band together in numbers to fight for a change.

"We got together and out came this idea of a trade association. Some time in the future, we hope to have a loud enough voice to shape legislation," Pringle said.

With a board of directors seated last month, the association is mainly composed of charities and nonprofit groups from Northern California, Pringle said.

In the coming months, the association hopes to start collecting membership dues from 1,600 charities throughout the state, he said.

The aim of the organizing efforts, which are taking place in Pringle's Citrus Heights office on Sunrise Vista Drive behind the Sunrise Mall, is to clarify laws regulating bingo.

"The laws are antiquated, and changes need to be made," said Pringle, who argues that the old-fashioned bingo played with paper and ink is being replaced with electronics and computers.

"E-bingo is the new paradigm," Pringle said.

If the new electronic bingo is allowed to proliferate, it would be a boon to local charities. E-bingo at the Arden Way hall, for instance, benefits the Society for the Blind.

Disabled Sports USA, which is headed by Pringle, has a large bingo operation on North Watt Avenue in North Highlands that has dozens of touch-screen machines.

In the first two quarters of the current fiscal year, Pringle's charity, which uses athletics to improve the lives of the physically challenged, reported $5.3 million in revenue with a net profit of $398,000.

The issue for lawyers to work out is the legal definition of bingo and whether cards are needed.

Last year, the state attorney general's office issued an opinion that bingo involves paper, ink daubers and live callers.

Sacramento County, which authorized charitable bingo fundraising in 1977, maintains e-bingo is legal as long as players are competing against one another and not the machine.

In February, the county's ordinance was challenged in Sacramento Superior Court by Indian gambling interests who claim e-bingo infringes on their exclusive rights to operate slot machines.

What hope there was that the issue would be resolved was doused when the judge issued a ruling that said paper cards were needed but didn't specify whether they must be provided before or after the game is played.

"The long-term solution is to get a statute," Pringle said of the need to clarify the problem.

The need for a change in the law is made even more desperate for charities because over the past six years, charitable bingo fundraising has declined, Pringle said.

In fiscal 1995-96, six county bingo parlors reported they saw 866,274 players. By fiscal 2005-06, two halls had gone out of business and attendance had dropped to 407,098, with gross receipts of $36.6 million.

"Bingo charities feel threatened that we might be put out of business," Pringle said.

Using electronics and computers will help attract a younger crowd to the fundraising, he said.

"It adds to the entertainment value," Pringle said.

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