ALBANY Gov. Andrew Cuomo embraced the spread of state-sanctioned gambling during his first six years in office, from expanded lottery and commercial casinos to daily fantasy sports wagering.
One of the outcomes, though, was that churches, fire halls and veterans posts that run bingo games, raffles and other games of chance suffered with the saturation of new gambling opportunities across New York.
So Cuomo now is pressing for major changes to the states charitable gambling laws. He wants to help the charitable groups reverse the slump in revenues that has eaten into their support of local activities, such as youth sports leagues, scholarship funds or veterans programs.
Its an acknowledgement that this is an important activity in New York that requires some care and nurturing, Robert Williams, executive director of the governors state Gaming Commission, said of the proposals tucked into 42 pages of legislation in Cuomos budget for this year.
The governor's proposals include:
But is it too little too late?
Thats what some charity groups are wondering. Walk into a bingo hall, and you see their clientele: old and getting older.
And that group is not being replaced by millennials who, if they do gamble, are attracted to claims of bigger and faster payoffs at more upscale casinos or through illegal off-shore internet sites they can access on their phones.
Consider also that the total amount of money wagered on bingo across New York in 1980 was $223 million. In 2015, that sum had slipped to $31 million
Charities unable to compete
Competition from lottery games, like the omnipresent Quick Draw electronic games, is far and away the key reason for declining bingo and raffles of charitable groups.
Casinos that dot the landscape across the state, particularly upstate, also havent helped.
Charities in Western New York face competition from three Seneca Nation casinos, two racetrack-based casinos and gambling offerings in Ontario.
Now add state rules that kept these charities operating games stuck in a kind of time warp with paper slots called bell jars and often retrieved by gamblers from a fancy or otherwise container.
Volunteer Valerie Schmarje, right, sells Joanne Lorenz some pull tabs at Fourteen Holy Helpers in West Seneca on Feb. 16. (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)
Charities say they cant go up against a casino and its array of slots, table games, entertainment, alcohol and food.
Ive been in local casinos and seen some of our players there, said Paul Podsiadlo, one of the volunteer chairmen who runs the weekly bingo nights held for more than 40 years at Fourteen Holy Helpers church in West Seneca.
I hear players talk and say, I couldnt come last week because I went to the casino. They only have so much money to spend in a week, and if they spend it at the casino they dont come to bingo, he said.
Catholic churches once were synonymous with bingo. Today, many have shut down their money-losing operations, unable to draw gamblers or volunteers to run the games.
Those that remain try to offer amenities to lure consumers. Some of those give a bow to their aging clientele. One bingo hall in Western New York now offers earlier evening hours that promises to get bettors home sooner.
Another key attraction: no stairs to climb.
Bingo attendance statewide has dropped so much since 1997 when 10 million bettors played that the state no longer even bothers to count how many people play. (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)
At Fourteen Holy Helpers, parishioners are dealing with the Catholic Dioceses decision to close its school in 2014. The parish still needs to raise money to subsidize the cost of sending its students to another Catholic school. Thats where the churchs weekly bingo games come into play as a longtime fundraising device.
But revenues from bingo and other games of chance are off more than 25 percent from peak years at Holy Helpers.
And that is the case throughout New York.
Bingo halls across the state in 1997 reported 10 million bettors, according to the then-Racing and Wagering Board.
By 2005, bingo attendance had been cut in half.
Now, the state doesnt even bother to put a number on how many people play bingo, according to that agencys successor, the state Gaming Commission.
Thirty years ago, about 550 groups offered regular bingo fundraisers in an eight-county region of Western New York, recalled Charles Gajewski, owner of the sole remaining supplier of gambling products to charities in the Buffalo area. Today, the number of organizations offering bingo has fallen to about 150, he said.
Bingo and bell jars
While bingo is often the poster child of charitable gambling, the sale of bell jar tickets, or pull tabs, is now the big draw for charities.
Bell jars accounted for $215 million of the $250 million charities reported being wagered in New York in 2015, according to the Gaming Commission.
In contrast, bingo players put down $31 million in wagers in 2015 while raffles accounted for about $3 million.
Among Cuomos proposals is to raise the top prize for bell jars from $500 to $1,000.
Gambling tickets ready to be used at Fourteen Holy Helpers. (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)
Bell jars are cards, usually sold for less than $2 apiece, drawn from a jar or machine and they contain numbers, colors or symbols that, when uncovered, reveal a prize or not.
Kirby Hannan wants lawmakers to let charities use enhanced bell jar machines that come with video screens and encourage a quicker play by gamblers.
Charitable gaming technology has not been revitalized in way more than 30 years, said Hannan, legislative director for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in New York. The young people were trying to attract are not pulling pull tabs from a jar. They prefer to see a video screen.
Without modernizing the bell jar games that many vet groups offer as their sole gambling option, Hannan said, 90 percent of the organizations I represent would probably not benefit significantly from Cuomos proposal.
Charitable gaming was initially designed to help non-profits, such as military service organizations, churches and fire houses to help them raise funds. And yet were the once stuck in the paper world, said Marlene Roll, an Alden resident and past statewide commander of the VFW in New York.
Wholesale modernization
Cuomo administration officials say the governors plan amounts to a wholesale modernization of charitable gambling.
His plan would lift restrictions on advertising, such as on the internet.
To deal with shortages of volunteers working the gambling ventures, Cuomo wants to lift barriers that prohibit people with certain criminal backgrounds such as a public drunkenness charge when they were a teenager from working at a bingo parlor.
Cuomo also seeks to reconcile competing statutes to make clear that all charitable gambling can be conducted on Sundays.
Giving flexibility to where charities can offer gambling is meant to prevent problems that arose last year that forced a Niagara Falls charity to cancel the annual Duck Race at the Canal Fest of the Tonawandas because it was to be held on state property. The state let the event proceed.
The Catholic Church is noncommittal regarding Cuomos proposals.
While bingo is used as a fundraiser by some of our parishes, its too early to determine what some or all of these proposed changes might mean to those parishes, said George Richert, a spokesman for the Diocese of Buffalo.
Groups concerned about the states gambling expansion say the irony is not lost that Cuomo now seeks to enhance charitable gambling operations after he led the support of the 2013 referendum for legalizing up to seven new Las Vegas-style casinos.
They also question Cuomos plan to allow gamblers to place their charitable bets on a credit card.
The proposal is yet another expansion of predatory gambling in New York State, said Dr. Stephen Shafer, chair of the Coalition Against Gambling in New York, a group that had its organizational roots in Buffalo.
More gambling options, even if run by charities, equates to more problem gambling, he said.
All these moves reflect the fallacy that legalized gambling is good for New York State because some money flows from it into support for education or charitable causes, Shafer said in an email response to questions.
Even if all of Cuomos charitable gambling proposals are cleared in state budget talks, few charities think the gambling times of the past will return.
With more and more casinos popping up in the last five to 10 years, I think we are now seeing the repercussions from that, said Roll, the past statewide VFW commander. The bank accounts of these groups have dwindled because were just not seeing the money come in like it did.
Continue reading here:
Cuomo wants to resurrect charity gambling. Is it too late? - Buffalo News
- Riverside smoke shop raided in suspected gambling and narcotics investigation - The Press-Enterprise - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Sports gambling creates a windfall, but raises questions of integrity here are three lessons from historic sports-betting ... - The Conversation... - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Casino Hubs: 5 Airports That Serve Major Centers Of The Gambling Sector - Simple Flying - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Dear Abby: Dad worries gambling boyfriend will get his hands on money he leaves his daughter - OregonLive - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers cancel NFL Rookie of the Year bet - USA TODAY - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Louis Ferrari expected to plead guilty in gambling ring case - Democrat & Chronicle - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Regulator who ushered in Louisiana gambling expansion resigns, bullish on Shreveport-Bossier - Yahoo Finance - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Alabama's push to legalize gambling dies in the state Senate - Montgomery Advertiser - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Researchers reveal the double-edged-sword effect of overconfidence on gambling - Medical Xpress - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Shohei Ohtani's ex-interpreter agrees to plead guilty in $17M sports gambling scandal - NBC Los Angeles - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Gambling Scandal of Ohtani's Ex-Interpreter to Receive TV Series - Tokyo Weekender - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- The rise of cryptocurrencies in online gambling - The Jerusalem Post - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Tennessee collects $7M in sports gambling taxes on $384.2M in wagers in April - The Center Square - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Key no vote on Alabama gambling bill suggests looking to next year Alabama Reflector - Alabama Reflector - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Effective Messaging Is Needed To Combat Illegal Gambling In US - PlayUSA - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Alabama legislative session adjourns with no final vote on gambling bill - Alabama legislative session adjourns with no ... - Focus Gaming News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Transnational Crime and Southeast Asia's Gambling Underworld - World Casino Directory - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- MLB Betting Predictions 5/13/24 | MLB Gambling Podcast (Ep. 480) - SGPN - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- How did gambling develop into a major industry in Minnesota? - redlakenationnews.com - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Huge increase in young people 'gambling' on mortgages that expire in retirement - Yahoo News UK - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Premier League Matchday 37 Midweek (Games In Hand) Betting Picks | The EPL Show (Ep. 385) - SGPN - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Best Bet For Monday (May 13th): NBA Predictions - SGPN - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Speaker Ledbetter: 'We're going to see probably an expansion of more - 1819 News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Gambling goes down in the Alabama Legislature again; union fight nears end; and more on Alabama Politics This Week! - Yellowhammer News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- OPINION: When it comes to illegal gamblers in casinos, dont ask, dont tell - The Nevada Independent - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- This gambling tech stock might be the safest bet you'll make this year - Stockhouse Publishing - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Professional sport commissioners are fighting to preserve league integrity amid gambling scandals - The Conversation - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- State Sen. Orr: Gambling push 'sucked all the oxygen out' of passing - 1819 News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Art Rooney II gambling his reputation that change will result in Steelers success - Still Curtain - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- MLB NRFI and YRFI Picks - May 13 - SGPN - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Poole Researchers Uncover Tax Costs of Gambling - Poole College of Management - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Republican Cheryl Bean says casino gambling is not in the cards for Texas - CBS News - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Local lawmakers, citizens react to the end of the Alabama gambling bill - Fox 10 News - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- MLB commissioner gives update on Shohei Ohtani gambling investigation - USA TODAY - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- As gambling stalemate continues, former governor has suggestions on how it can succeed next year - wvua23.com - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Better Markets Applauds CFTC's Proposed Ban on Election Gambling To Prevent Election Interference and Protect ... - Better Markets - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Advocates seeking more revenue for problem gambling in MD will have to wait - Maryland Daily Record - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- West Virginia breaks state record, rakes in $20.68m of revenue in online gambling - WDTV - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- New Regulations For Gambling Consumer Protection Are Here! - Latest Casino Bonuses - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- After gambling standoff, Alabama lawmakers pass $9.3 billion education budget - Alabama Daily News - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- MLB Betting Predictions 5/11/24 | MLB Gambling Podcast (Ep. 479) - SGPN - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Best Bet For Saturday (May 11th): UFC St. Louis Predictions - SGPN - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Governor Ivey will not call special session to readdress failed gambling bill - WIAT - CBS42.com - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Internet gambling industry expected to grow - WDTV - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Gambling constitutional amendment dies with the Senate declining to - 1819 News - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Betting on the US market; the IT infrastructure of gambling - DatacenterDynamics - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- MLB's Shohei Ohtani, Interpreter's Gambling Scandal to Be Featured in New TV Series - Bleacher Report - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Alabama voters are tired of waiting for Godot gambling bill - AL.com - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- MGM National Harbor gambling revenue down 10% - WTOP - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- RIP GAMBLING 2024: House closes session by approving the education - 1819 News - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- The End: The Money Picture Changes with Legalized Gambling - Gobbler Country - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Real Housewives Of Orange County Castmember Ryan Boyajian Reportedly Caught Up In $16M Theft And Gambling Scandal Surrounding Shohei Ohtanis Former... - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Gambling Safely: The Importance of Choosing the Righ... - HighstakesDB - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, agrees to plead guilty to 2 charges in gambling scandal - Yahoo Sports - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Charitable gambling to start at Hoops Brewing, will support the Duluth Curling Club - WDIO - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- TV series about Ohtani ex-interpreter gambling scandal in works - The Athletic - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Sports Is Betting It All On Gambling - Defector - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- MLB NRFI and YRFI Picks - May 11 - SGPN - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- TV Series About Shohei Ohtani Interpreter's Gambling Scandal in Development - Sports Illustrated - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Why would I do that? Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey says special session on lottery, gambling unlikely - AL.com - May 11th, 2024 [May 11th, 2024]
- Sports betting and gambling addiction are on the rise - Dakota News Now - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Proposed Alabama gambling legislation includes lottery, casinos, sports betting - AL.com - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Super Bowl betting soars, but it's still not legal in Chiefs and 49ers home states - NPR - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Problem gambling has increased in Ohio since sports betting legalized - Hamilton Journal News - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Sports betting and gambling addiction are on the rise - KTIV Siouxland's News Channel - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Sports bets during the big game could trigger gambling addictions - 25 News Now - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Illegal gambling raid at El Patron leads to 1 arrest and 23 citations - KRIS 6 News Corpus Christi - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Experts discuss responsible gambling ahead of the Super Bowl - Spectrum News 1 - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Gambling addicts face tough test as Super Bowl 58 descends on Las Vegas and NFL cashes in - USA TODAY - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- What are the NFLs gambling rules for the Super Bowl in Las Vegas? - The Athletic - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Personal Frontiers gets $45K to treat gambling addiction - Gillette News Record - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Super Bowl Gambling Grows, But Pastors Are on the Sidelines | News & Reporting - ChristianityToday.com - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Sports betting leading to increase in gambling addiction - Dayton 24/7 Now - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Betting on the Super Bowl: Impacts of sports gambling in Ohio as state's help hotline sees jump in calls - WKYC.com - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Sports gambling during the NFL Championship game will increase addiction rates - 25 News Now - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Billionaires Are Trying to Bring Casinos and Gambling to Texas - Robb Report - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Gambling becomes the first big issue of the legislative session - WBHM - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- DraftKings, helplines, and the hidden toll of sports gambling - The Boston Globe - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- The Super Bowl and gambling are locked in a tight and dangerous embrace - The Guardian - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Sports gambling addictions on the rise due to online betting, experts warn ahead of Super Bowl LVIII - WLS-TV - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]