Electronic Bingo Machines Banned

[screamingmimi04]

Late Tuesday, last-minute legislation was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to ban electronic bingo machines. The bill does allow large charities to run "remote caller" bingo games, however. This will allow the charities to join multiple sites into one contest.

The charities wanted a change because of the loss of revenue due to customers going to Indian casinos in recent years. The Indian tribes wanted to end the charities ability to used the electronic bingo machines, which they said encroached on their exclusive right to operate slot machines in the state of California. Senate Bill 1369 came in the final days of the legislative session and was a product of a compromise between the Indian tribes and the large charities, such as the Catholic Church.

Smaller charities opposed the bill, because they rely heavily on bingo games which are played on electronic cards. The Indian tribes have lobbied throughout the year for legislation which would ban the electronic bingo machines. Some California lawmakers said that the state could not afford to lose the Indian gambling proceeds to the bingo parlors.

Separate efforts were persued by the charities to get the state to authorize remote bingo. Both the large charities and the tribes had failed in their respective endeavors until a deal was struck at the end-of-session to combine their efforts.