Just wanted to thank you all and let you know we pulled off a terrific Bingo night for on $70.00 cost to the PTO. That we could afford! The idea of the bring a dollar store toy was a great hit and we bought an extra 40 prizes as backup and had our baking committee do all the snacks and we only bought drink mixes and cups and plates and napkins. We did not need a permit as there was no money involved and each kid left happy as they all got a prize! I couldn't have done it without you guys and your fabulous ideas!!!! THANK YOU
Bingo and raffles are both considered forms of gambling in many states. These are huge areas of corruption and fraud, so heavily monitored. I know it's frustrating when you're just a PTO trying to work on a good cause. But the potential for swindling people with bingo or a drawing that's not legit is enormous, so states have cracked down pretty hard.
Check into the rules for your state. There's usually a way to get a temporary or charitable bingo permit for your situation. Yes, it involves some paperwork and a small fee, but it's not too bad after you figure it out the first time. Since supplies (i.e. cards, balls) are where you can fix the game, that's why you often are required to purchase through an authorized source. You'll just have to see what your state demands.
In my state, raffles are not illegal, but heavily regulated. My group doesn't do the true raffles where you pre-sell tickets. We do hold drawings at the event, where you buy a chance for 50 cents or $1, fill out the ticket, put it in the jar for the item you want to try to win, and the drawings are held that same night.
Frankly, our "drawings" are probably considered raffles. But there are sometimes where you just don't want to investigate the rules to the Nth degree. And while none of us want to break any laws, there's a point at which the police and regulators really don't want to know abou this small stuff that has no ill intent.
I corresponded with one PTO in a small Texas town who consulted the local sheriff's office. After he finished laughing, the sheriff told the PTO pres he didn't care what the law said. His office was the group who would have to enforce it, and the elementary school should just go ahead and hold their bingo game - permit or not. He wasn't about to arrest anyone.
I'm not saying you should ignore the laws. We get a permit every year for bingo. But sometimes you do need to balance it all with some common sense.
JHB,
We were going to have a bingo night, with our first ggeneral membershiip meeting, until I also called and found that it was illegal unless we had a license, even if you do not charge for the cards. I am still looking into it. So some states even require you to buy from certain suppliers. Is it possible to make your own cards? Guess I need to call the charitable bingo line? Do you sell tickets ahead of time and limit the number of people able to participate? They also said holding raffles was illegal. Know anything about that?
JHB,
We were going to have a bingo night, with our first ggeneral membershiip meeting, until I also called and found that it was illegal unless we had a license, even if you do not charge for the cards. I am still looking into it. So some states even require you to buy from certain suppliers. Is it possible to make your own cards? Guess I need to call the charitable bingo line? Do you sell tickets ahead of time and limit the number of people able to participate? They also said holding raffles was illegal. Know anything about that?
There a tons of suppliers on the Internet, but if you are having to get a permit to hold the Bingo event, you may have to purchase supplies through an authorized entity.
We buy the paper/disposable cards that come on paper thinner than newspaper. I think there were 10,000 cards in the box, which has lasted us 3 or 4 years. We just use crayons to mark the squares, and we project a master bingo grid on an overhead projector.
As far as the actual bingo balls, we just bought a decent quality bingo game. (I'm not sure that if I read the fine print if this is truly acceptable in my state, but I'm not planning to research it.)
The permit costs us some time to do the paperwork and $25 in fees. Supplies are really cheap. Prizes are donated. So it's a good situation for us.
We have a Family Bingo Night in our primary (K-2) school. The price of addmission is an age-appropriate new book. This way every child is sure to go home with a book. We don't deny admission if a child shows up without a book so the PTA also purchases some extra books just in case.
