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Rough Times for Bingo, Spelled C-19Lock Icon

5 min read

Bingo halls across the state of Arkansas are mostly open for the charity games, but the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic has put a dent in the action.

The pandemic’s effects have been felt by the charities that rely on bingo as a revenue generator, players who enjoy a bit of gambling for a good cause and the vendors who sell bingo cards or rent out their halls.

The state of Arkansas, which collects taxes on each bingo card sold, has seen its bingo tax collections drop 34% during the first six months of this fiscal year compared with the same period a year ago.

“Overall our charitable revenues have dropped so much it is sad,” said John Scott, the administrator of the Loyal Order of the Moose lodge in Sherwood.

Before the pandemic, the Moose lodge had two bingo nights a week, a common schedule for the multitude of bingo-hosting charities in Arkansas. Some charities, such as the Moose lodge or Veterans of Foreign Wars chapters, host their games at their own facilities. Other charities rent out third-party bingo halls, such as Charity Bingo in North Little Rock.

When the pandemic rolled into the country’s consciousness in March, many bingo halls closed out of an abundance of caution. Scott said the Moose lodge closed bingo before deciding to reopen under state Health Department guidelines.

Scott said under the guidelines he could have reopened and allowed more than 100 players a night, but the Moose lodge decided to limit capacity to approximately 90.

“In the beginning when everything got shut down for three months, we had to completely stop everything,” Scott said. “We fired bingo back up, but where we would normally have 130 to 150 players, the plan I had to submit to the Health Department, I limited it to 86 to 90 people. I allowed enough room for people to space out and take all the safety precautions.”

Scott said he didn’t have an exact tally, but bingo revenue has dropped 60% to 70% since the pandemic began. The Loyal Order of the Moose supports abused and neglected children and the elderly, and Scott said it also donates to community organizations.

“A lot of people come to us wanting donations and we don’t have the money to give,” he said.

In the Cards

Trapper Geater manages Integrity Bingo in North Little Rock, a subsidiary of American Games, a major bingo supplier nationwide.

Geater said sales in Arkansas dropped 42%, from more than $218,000 to less than $130,000, because of the pandemic. Integrity was closed for three months, along with most bingo halls, but was able to survive because of its corporate backing.

“Our industry has taken a huge hit,” Geater said. “My sales out of the Arkansas office, it was a huge hit. We were fortunate that we were owned by a large company so we didn’t have to close our doors, but it has been a rough year.”

Geater said he sells bingo cards and other accessories to 80 bingo halls across the state. One of those halls, Charity Bingo, is adjacent to Integrity and is managed by Geater’s father, David.

“There has been a tremendous drop-off in the crowds,” David Geater said. “We still hold the events. We were closed for quite some time. Then we opened back up for a limited number of folks following the COVID guidelines. Even following the guidelines, we are not getting the crowds we used to get.”

David Geater said his bingo hall has a capacity of 286, but now he sticks to a limit of approximately 110. Before the pandemic, bingo nights would regularly draw 130 to 150 people. “Now if you break 100 you’re doing good,” Geater said.

Trapper Geater said December is usually a slow time in the bingo industry because of the holidays, but the state Department of Finance & Administration collected more than $18,000 in tax revenue for the month, easily the best month since February 2020. Geater said federal stimulus money was a factor.

“There are still a lot of questions in the future because of the capacity limits, and there are still a lot of people who are scared to go out in public,” Trapper Geater said. “The 300-bingo-player days are over. There was a surge in sales the last couple of weeks. We just have positive thoughts for this first quarter. Hopefully everybody will take the vaccine and everything will get back to somewhat normal.”

Raffle Permits Hit

The pandemic has undoubtedly suppressed bingo revenue for charities and also for the state from a tax revenue perspective.

Even before the pandemic, fiscal year 2020 — which ran from July 2019 to June 2020 — had seen a drop from the previous fiscal year. Tax revenue dropped nearly 21% from $204,000 to $161,500.

More drastic has been what has happened in the raffle industry, which has seen a steep drop in licenses this fiscal year. A year ago, the state granted 276 raffle licenses at $10 or $25 each; in the first six months of this fiscal year it has granted 62.

“Raffle has taken a big hit,” said Todd Cockrill, senior manager of the DFA’s miscellaneous tax section. “Raffle tickets have to be sold face to face. They can’t be sold through electronic means. We are way down on raffle permits.”

Cockrill said annual bingo licenses are slightly up this year but one-time use licenses have dropped from 52 to six.

Lloyd Cambre, the state secretary for the Knights of Columbus, said many chapters of the Roman Catholic organization have kept their annual bingo licenses even though they curtailed bingo night during the pandemic. Cambre, the Grand Knight of the Benton council, said the state organization thought it best to hold off on bingo nights until there were no safety guidelines to follow.

“People were just scared, so the Knights decided to not have bingo until we do not have to have guidelines,” Cambre said. “It is a fundraiser that has been really hampered, so we are doing different types of fundraisers instead of doing bingo. We continue to pay our license and go from there.”

Scott said the Moose lodge has continued to hold bingo nights even though on some nights the organization loses money because of smaller crowds. He doesn’t think bingo will return to normal until the fall at the earliest.

“We can’t turn people away, our bingo players, because it is too hard to try to get them back,” Scott said. “We have a great group of bingo players that support our lodge and our mission. I think it is going to take a while. I would have never thought when we first shut down in March that things would still be this hard this far down the road.”


Bingo & Raffle Revenue
For fiscal years ended June 30


Tax Collected*

 

FY2021

FY2020

July

$5,562

$17,267

August

$11,274

$19,973

September

$12,211

$17,106

October

$10,502

$17,788

November

$7,593

$15,482

December

$18,478

$11,946

January

 

$12,663

February

 

$19,808

March

 

$14,795

April

 

$14,408

May

 

$0

June

 

$279

 YTD TOTALS

$65,620

$161,515

*Paid by distributors based on number of cards sold

License Fees

Month

FY2021

FY2020

July

$3,245

$3,740

August

$830

$4,370

September

$340

$1,125

October

$235

$1,180

November

$480

$610

December

$225

$460

January

 

$730

February

 

$1,145

March

 

$594

April

 

$550

May

 

$13,800

June

 

$11,945

YTD TOTALS

$5,355

$40,249


Bingo & Raffle Licenses Issued

 

2021

2020

Annual Bingo and Raffle ($100)

311

303

Single Use Bingo ($25)

6

52

Distributor ($2,500)

9

9

Raffle I ($25)

34

97

Raffle II ($10)

28

179

Source: Department of Finance & Administration
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