Orange : Elks Request for Bingo Games Before Council
The City Council tonight will consider a request to permit bingo games in the city.
Chuck See, spokesman for the local Elks Lodge, which made the request, said the lodge could raise from $40,000 to $60,000 each year from bingo. The money, he said, would go toward such causes as aiding cerebral palsy patients, Meals on Wheels and anti-drug programs.
The council is expected to set a date for a public hearing.
City Atty. Furman Roberts said bingo is legal in California if approved by the city and operated by nonprofit groups.
“That’s fine, everybody knows those people,” Roberts said. “But once you enact one of these ordinances, what’s to prevent outside groups from coming in and saying ‘We’re the Church of the Crystal Light’ and getting all the various exemptions for legal non-profit status?”
Bingo operators would be limited to using 10% of the income for operating expenses, he said, but the concern is that unscrupulous groups would find ways to glean profits from the games.
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