Clubs Will Be Able to Use Campuses for Bingo Games

Booster clubs will soon be allowed to hold bingo games in Long Beach high schools, the City Council decided this week.

In a 5-3 vote, the council Tuesday agreed to draft an exemption to an ordinance that has prevented groups from holding bingo games in a building unless they own or lease the building and are the exclusive users.

Bingo games have already been held at Lakewood High School and are used in numerous other school districts as a fund-raiser. The Long Beach school board earlier this year approved the games, which were greeted with mixed feelings.

Supporters see bingo as a legitimate way to raise much-needed money for extracurricular activities. Opponents said it sends children a message that it’s OK to gamble if the end justifies the means.

“I believe we are sending out the wrong message,” Councilman Jeff Kellogg said Wednesday. Kellogg and Councilmen Ray Grabinski and Clarence Smith voted against granting the school booster clubs an exemption.

Councilman Evan Anderson Braude, one of the five council supporters, said: “I’m not crazy about bingo, period. But if the school board said it’s OK, if that’s the mechanism they want to use to raise money, I won’t stand in the way.”

Also voting to grant the clubs an exemption were Vice Mayor Wallace Edgerton and council members Jan Hall, Tom Clark and Warren Harwood. Councilman Les Robbins was absent.