In 1977, the County of Sacramento enacted an ordinance enabling qualified charitable organizations to operate bingo for fund raising purposes. Charities provide a valuable service to the various communities within Sacramento County and bingo is one form of charitable fundraising that has a proven successful track record in raising much needed funds for nonprofit entities. Charities that are supported by funds derived from bingo provide good works to effected communities.
The purposes of this chapter are to protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens within the unincorporated area, to assure that County expenditure is efficiently allocated, and to safeguard legitimate charitable purposes. The purpose for allowing an eligible organization to conduct bingo games in Sacramento County is to provide that organization an additional source of revenue to further the purpose for which that organization was created. A licensee organization conducting bingo games without generating a profit from those games does not fulfill the purpose for which bingo is permitted. Organizations with a proven track record demonstrating that the game can produce a certain level of profits for charitable purposes, as opposed to proceeds going largely to overhead expenses of the game, should be allowed to conduct further games on various days of the week.
The purpose of requiring a separate license for separate functions of bingo operations, such as a bingo parlor license, a bingo supplier license, and a license for the actual conduct of the games, is to ensure that each function is conducted by a separate and independent person or entity. Such regulation aids in assuring the integrity of the game and in minimizing the problems of undue influence being used against an organization that is licensed to conduct bingo. History shows that nonprofit organizations are not beyond exercising undue influence against smaller organizations and channeling some of the monies meant for charitable purposes into the private accounts of dishonest members. Recent history shows that some bingo suppliers are not beyond using financial inducements to manipulate charities to conduct their games in violation of County and State laws. Requiring separation of functions lessens the opportunity for fraud, collusion, and self-dealing.
The purpose of requiring those organizations licensed to conduct bingo games to pay amounts owed to the bingo parlor before the next day of bingo operation and to pay the bingo supplier within 30 days of the invoice date or 10 days of the statement date, whichever occurs later, is a direct effort to preclude the parlor or the supplier from acquiring a financial interest in the games. The existence of a debtor-creditor relationship is inimical to the integrity of the bingo games. In the realm of gaming, and bingo is gaming, debts owed to the parlor or supplier by the organization licensed to conduct bingo can be used by the parlor or supplier to exert undue influence on the conduct of the games, and to increase the overhead expenses charged to these organizations. Organizations indebted to the parlor or supplier are thus placed in a position of sharing profits with the parlor or supplier to the detriment of the charitable purpose.
In 2008, the Legislature of the State of California added and amended various provisions of State law relating to charitable bingo. Included in those changes is the addition of previously nonexistent language defining bingo and proscribing the manner in which it may be played. Electronic or mechanical devices, with the exception of narrowly defined card minder devices, are prohibited by State law.
For all these reasons, it now becomes necessary for the County to adopt a comprehensive ordinance pertaining to the conduct of charitable bingo.
(SCC 578 § 12, 1983; SCC 0758 § 2, 1989; SCC 0992 § 5, 1995; SCC 1061 § 1, 1996; SCC 1353 § 1, 2007; SCC 1403 § 1, 2008)