Proposed changes to the state’s bingo laws could force local
operators – primarily volunteer fire departments – to spend more
m-o-n-e-y.

Amendments to the Bingo Law in House Bills 10 and 11 call for a
hike in fees for non-profit organizations to obtain licenses,
additional prize value limits and reporting standards and further
education for bingo operators, among other provisions.

If approved, the legislation – which has passed the House and
currently sits in the Senate Finance Committee – would greatly
impact volunteer fire departments currently fighting to retain
membership and funding streams, in part, due to casinos being built
across the border in New York state.

“All this does is just impose more paperwork on these
organizations that are already struggling to survive,” state Rep.
Martin Causer, R-Turtlepoint, said Monday. “Saying that bingo
operators need further continuing training is just ridiculous. They
already need an incredible amount of training and education just to
keep their emergency skills sharp.”

Causer, who voted against both bills, said he’s received
numerous calls from local volunteer organizations about the
issue.

“Hopefully, we can get changes made to this and go from there,”
Causer said.

House Bill 10, which amends the Bingo Law, was passed by a 115
to 80 vote; House Bill 11, which amends the Small Games of Chance
Law, was passed by a 109-84 tally.

According to a summary of House Bill 10, license fees for
non-profit organizations would rise from $100 to $300 and licenses
would be issued on a biennial basis instead of yearly. The same
would hold true for small games of chance, where a limited occasion
license would rise from $10 annually to $30 biennially. The bill
also sets fees for senior citizens’ groups at $150 and agricultural
association/county fair organizations at $300.

Meanwhile, the prize value limit for any one day would rise from
$4,000 to $8,000, and each association which conducts bingo
activities would be required to report all prizes awarded to the
state Department of Revenue as required by the Internal Revenue
Service. Specifically, prizes of $600 or more would require a
signature receipt by the winner and must be described in the
association’s records.

Also, the legislation calls for bingo operators who conduct
games 30 or more times a year to attend eight hours of bingo
education seminars required by the Department of Revenue.

In House Bill 11, changes include a hike in the maximum
allowable prize limit for a small game of chance from $500 to
$1,000, and the replacement of the $5,000 weekly prize limit with a
$20,000 weekly cash value prize limit.

If passed by the Legislature, both bills would go into effect
within 60 days.

“It’s going to affect us,” Bradford Township Volunteer Fire
Chief Dan Burkhouse said. “Our bingo is already down. We can’t take
too many more blows like this.”

In Bradford Township, which holds bingo sessions one night a
week, the number of players is half of what it was a few years ago
– with people hedging their bets at the nearby Seneca Allegany
Casino in Salamanca, N.Y., where the winnings are larger. The
township has licenses for both bingo and small games of chance.

“The big problem now is the government wants us to keep track of
just how much money we spend, keep and put out,” fire company
President Dave Farrell said. “We really took a hit when the Indians
started bingo. In Pennsylvania you have to be an organization of
some kind to receive a license.”

Farrell said profits were cut in half when the casino opened,
adding attendance at bingo now averages between 70 and 80 people a
week.

“We’ve already been getting calls from bingo players on this,”
Farrell said. “We need to do what we can to make money. There are
only so many chicken barbecues and raffles you can hold.”

Jim Dittman, which helps operate the games in the township,
agrees. “It really is getting perplexing to try and operate
entertainment like this. It’s disheartening. We have less members
all the time, but more work for the same people to do.”

In Corydon Township, which operates a bingo hall on Main Street
in Bradford, Fire Chief Douglas Cobb said the legislation would
just add another burden to the department.

“The hardest thing for the department right now is getting
people to work bingo,” Cobb said. “If we start telling members they
have to go to school for it, we’ll just end up losing more people.
We’re not very happy about this.”

The proposed legislation was referred to the Senate Finance
Committee on Oct. 21 and was adopted in the House after being
considered three times.