Capitol Ideas: Bills aim to update Bingo regulations

DES MOINES - If you thought state lawmakers could make it through the 2015 legislative session without a gambling debate - Bingo, you were wrong.

Bills intended to update, simplify and modernize the decades-old chapter of the Iowa code that regulates social and charitable gambling, such as raffles and Bingo, are moving through the legislative process in both the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate.

The code provisions being revamped are steeped in Iowa history, dating back to a 1971 raid orchestrated by then-Iowa Attorney General Richard Turner on a North Buena Vista picnic and fundraiser operated by the local Immaculate Conception Church that was deemed to violate the state's gambling prohibition.

The brouhaha that ensued led to a 1972 public vote to repeal the constitutional ban on gambling and legislative action one year later to legalize Bingo, raffles and other low-stakes games of chance. The rest, as they say, is history.

Against that backdrop now come House File 513 and Senate File 442, which backers say will remove out-of-date restrictions, reflect new technology, modernize reporting and bring various provisions that have been on the books for decades under one unified section.

However, tucked away in the 63 pages of code rewrites and updates are provisions that would raise some of the prize thresholds allowed for religious, fraternal or charitable groups that offer low-scale gambling as a fundraising tool.

For example, the limit of prizes for Bingo games would be raised from $100 to $250. Also, the number of Bingo occasions that can be played in a month would increase from 14 to 15. According to the state Department of Inspections and Appeals, the proposed legislation also creates four classes of existing raffles that cover very small raffles of less than $1,000 in value all the way up to $200,000.

Small raffles under $10,000 currently are required to obtain a state license, but no license would be needed to conduct a raffle less than $1,000 in value under the proposed changes.

Also, while amusement devices, movable amusement concessions and social gambling would continue to be limited to cash payments, organizations offering charitable gambling would be allowed to accept cash, checks, credit cards and debit cards as payment forms - activities that currently are on a cash-only basis except Bingo, where participants can pay by check.

DIA officials and legislative shepherds such as Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, say they are certain that section is tightly constructed as not to allow attorneys for state-licensed casinos a legal toehold to seek payments by credit and debit cards, smartphone or other devices - something casinos favor and gambling opponents have fought religiously.

Backers say the proposals do not represent an expansion of gambling opportunities in Iowa, but as with so many things at the Statehouse, that is in the eye of the beholder.

Brian Carter of the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church said the changes are incremental but expansions, none the less, by opening up higher stakes to entice people who can least afford to gamble their resources, even if it's for a worthy cause.