Bingo Group Hopes New Site Will Bring the Smokers Back

A high school booster group is hoping to revive its previously successful bingo games by moving to a location where players can smoke freely.

The City Council unanimously agreed last week to approve a permit for the nonprofit group, OUSD School Pride, to renovate an industrial space within the Metro Court Development on Katella Avenue for the games.

The group, formerly known as Canyon Bingo, had been making $4,500 a week for the Orange Unified School District by operating bingo games out of Canyon High School.

Since 1985, the group has given about $1 million to the budget-strapped district for various programs, organizers said.

“We were founded for the sole purpose of raising funds for the Orange Unified School District,” said organizer Jim Frize, during a public hearing for the permit.

The group found, along with other booster Bingo clubs, that proceeds dropped to the break-even point when a federal law took effect last January prohibiting smoking on school property.

Canyon Bingo had previously been denied a permit to operate within the city because Canyon High School, while in the Orange Unified district, is located in Anaheim. City codes require nonprofit bingo operators to be Orange-based.

Since then, Orange High School agreed to sponsor them and they changed their name to OUSD School Pride.

The 200 players expected to attend the games, to be held on Wednesdays, will find smoking and nonsmoking sections.

This is the fourth bingo permit granted in the city, although one, Rio Bingo, has ceased operating.

Police Chief John R. Robertson said bingo operations are closely monitored by his department but that he did not anticipate any problems.