Charitable bingo, raffles allowed as of July 31

Well, technically. Lots of bingo games are already popping up across the state in advance of the effective date of Act 388, the enabling legislation for Amendment 84 (approved by the voters in 2006). According to Andrew DeMillo with the Associated Press, prosecutors have said that cracking down on bingo games would achieve little, draining resources with the rules about to go into effect.

"Given the fact that the voters had legalized bingo in some form and the rules and regulations were going to come down controlling that, we weren't going to initiate any prosecutions," said Craighead County Deputy Prosecutor Alan Copelin.

The Department of Finance & Administration, which has been given authority to promulgate rules and regulations of charitable bingo, has licensed 70 organizations to operate bingo. The Associated Press has the list. For information on getting a license, call the Miscellaneous Tax Section at DF&A (501-682-7187).