A proposal tp allow charities to pay people to run bingo, poker and other gambling games is too touchy of an issue to tackle this session, Indiana Senate Public Policy Chairman Ron Alting said Friday morning.
Members of fraternal clubs have complained to Alting that it’s difficult to round up volunteers to run their games,
and the Republican from Lafayette had hoped to advance legislation on the matter this session. Instead,
he’ll request a summer study committee.
“We really need to make sure we’re not opening a bucket of worms for professional gaming,” Alting said.
The Indiana Gaming Commission has cracked down on clubs that violated the rules against paying bingo callers and dealers.
An American Legion post in New Haven, near Fort Wayne, was accused last year of paying its bingo managers close to $1 million
over several years. Five people faced criminal charges after a gambling commission sting caught a 71-year-old woman ferrying
envelopes full of cash from Post 330 to a local restaurant, The Journal Gazette reported in September.
The gambling commission has fined two other clubs, the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie No. 2455 in Albion and the Loyal Order
of Moose Lodge No. 281 in Vincennes, for paying people to work events.
Two less controversial bills on charity gaming are making their way through the Legislature. Sen. Randy Head authored a bill
that would allow national organizations with Indiana affiliates to obtain a single license that could be applied to multiple
games, such as raffles. That bill is now with the House Public Policy Committee.
Rep. Bob Cherry proposed allowing poker-night patrons to deal, as long as they don’t play that round. Oftentimes, clubs advertise poker nights, but they don’t know whether they’ll have 20 people or 50 people show up, Cherry said.
“If they’re short on people to deal, it allows patrons to deal,” he said. Charity poker games would still require separate, volunteer dealers for the final round of the night, but they wouldn’t have to be present the entire time, he said.
Cherry’s bill passed the House and will be taken up by the Senate Public Policy Committee on Monday, Alting said.
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Places like the Boys/Girls Club (LeGore) were closing down the center in the evening to play bingo in the smoke-filled youth center so they could generate enough money to pay the utility bills for ALL the B/G Clubs in town.
They "allowed" the players to "tip" the callers and helpers who made good money at the games. They even added Midnight Games which became a huge problem for the surrounding residential community disturbing the peace.
This is a slippery slope for many reason, but mostly because a seemingly-harmless thing can easily become corrupt and the profit becomes more important than the charity work and criminal elements are always looking for easy ways to cash in. Duping a nonprofit is way too easy and some are willing to look the other way, too.