INDIANAPOLIS – Less than three months after Hoosier regulators busted a northern Indiana charity casino, lawmakers added anti-fraud measures to legislation loosening spending rules for charity gambling revenue.
Charitable, civic, veteran, and other groups can earn money off bingo, raffles, and more. But some have gone too far. In December, the Indiana Gaming Commission accused a Fort Wayne charity casino, run by an Elks Lodge, of racketeering and seized more than $100,000, WANE reported.
“We’re just putting in some safety nets, if you will, to make sure that some of these charitable events like bingo, up north, don’t turn into full-time casinos with profits like a full-time casino,” Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, told his Public Policy Committee on Wednesday.
The substantial amendment, Alting said, is from the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission.
It begins by renaming popular “casino game nights” to “card, dice, and roulette games events.” And starting next year, a single location wouldn’t be able to host bingo or such “games events” more than three days a week — no matter how many charities with gambling licenses are using the location.
A group conducting bingo and other games events that rakes in at least $1 million close to their license’s expiration, would have to get an independent financial audit done.
Read more of this Leslie Bonilla Muñiz story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.
