SIMI VALLEY : Charities Vie for Twice-Weekly Bingo

Simi Valley City Council members are considering allowing charities to compete in a lottery for the right to hold bingo games two nights each week.

The council has ordred he city staff to prepare guidelines for such a lottery after the Institute of Equestrian Therapy said it needs to raise money at two bingo nights each week to survive.

The institute, which provides horse-riding therapy to the handicapped, originally financed operations at its Chatsworth ranch by offering bingo two nights a week in Simi Valley. But in 1989, the City Council revised the law to allow organizations only one night of bingo each week.

In recent months, Equestrian Therapy representatives, citing financial problems, have urged the council to change the law again to allow a group to offer two nights of bingo.

“We’ve got the ranch up for sale,” said Yvonne Robello, vice president of the organization. “Our only source of income at this time is the bingo proceeds, and they’re declining.”

Robello said the lottery plan would not guarantee that her group will be able to operate twice weekly, but she said it would participate in such a drawing.

City officials have expressed concern that allowing charities to offer bingo too often could hurt attendance and revenues at smaller games. Under the lottery plan, bingo groups would compete only for the right to operate on Saturday or Wednesday nights, when no charity games are currently run.

The revised law will be presented to the council for approval in late November, said Brian Gabler, assistant to the city manager.