ORANGE : Update : Follow-up on the news : Council Eases Rules on Bingo Games

Nonprofit groups will soon have an easier time booking bingo games to raise money.

This month the City Council gave preliminary approval to a revision of its bingo law so that groups can offer bingo--as long as they do so in a new building or development.

The revision came about after a group of performers called the New Young Americans faced being rejected for a bingo permit last month because they did not meet the 36-month residency requirement.

Overturning a Planning Commission recommendation, the City Council gave the group a permit to operate games out of the Super Sports Golf & Recreation Center on Canal Street and will extend the same privilege to others.

City Atty. Robert O. Franks presented an amendment that allows nonprofit organizations to bypass the residency requirement if they are operating out of “a newly constructed facility”--one that is less than 3 years old.