ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 17, 1997 TAG: 9702170105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
When the state moved into bingo halls across Virginia, profits began falling and paperwork began piling up. Regulations are taking their toll on smalltime operations like the one run by VFW Post 1841 in Fincastle.
On a chilly Friday night in February, about 30 people - almost all women - filled about half the chairs in the smoke-filled metal building that is home to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1841. Many were senior citizens. The men running the bingo game were almost all in their 70s.
It was a pretty good night, by VFW standards. Most Fridays draw less than two dozen people.
The ladies auxiliary sold a few pieces of coconut pie and some vegetable soup.
Roy Webb called the numbers, and the players scanned up and down rows and rows of paper cards looking for B-4. Some played as many as two dozen cards at once.
It's small stakes at the VFW. Twenty different games take place on a Friday night, all with $25 prizes except for two with possible $500 jackpots, if enough people are playing.
"It's the most honest game in town," said Pat Paderick, who called the first game at the VFW nearly 20 years ago.
There's barely any incentive to be dishonest. The VFW clears only about $300 a week.
It used to be, the VFW could run its Friday night bingo game with a few sheets of accounting a year, Post Commander Harold Belcher said.
He kept one sheet per night of play, and turned in a two-page annual report. A Botetourt County bingo permit was $50. Not too much work or expense for a little bingo operation like the VFW's.
But that was when the county regulated the games, and before the advent of the state's Charitable Gaming Commission. The commission went to work in July, enforcing its 55-page set of regulations.
Now the VFW has to keep six sheets of paperwork per night, Belcher said. But that's nothing compared with the 22-page annual report he said they must file.
It's so involved, he said, the VFW had to hire a certified public accountant to keep its books every month.
"There's just one big word for it," Belcher said. "Headache."
So many bingo operators have complained to their legislators about the regulations imposed by the 7-month-old commission that several senators, including Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, introduced a bill to abolish the commission by 1999 and return oversight of bingo to local governments. It passed the Senate, 23-17, and is now in a House committee.
But Jerry Rowe, head of the commission, said many of the complaints from small groups like the VFW are really the result of misunderstandings. The VFW, for instance, does not have to file a 22-page annual report, he said. It's more like six pages, and the commission is working to reduce it to three. The commission is also committed to educating operators on how to do the paperwork.
"This is going to require some hand holding," he said.
Belcher said the commission's field agent has been helpful, and he admitted liking some of the new paperwork, such as the nightly accounting sheets. He said abolishing the commission would be going too far, but in the right direction.
He said he and the other VFW volunteers realize the potential for big bingo operators to skim profits, but the paperwork required to keep those big games in order is overwhelming the veterans.
They have to document all supplies they buy, he said, with check and serial numbers.
"These big operators are causing us to suffer," Belcher said. "What they did [this] for was to keep crooks honest. But we're not crooks."
A two-year study revealed some operators were abusing the charitable organizations their games raised money for by skimming profits and charging inflated rents. Some operators were fixing games so they would win themselves. One operator in Henrico County landed in jail for stealing more than $1 million from charities in 12 years.
The commission's regulations require more detailed accounting, leaving less room for operators to skim profits.
As bingo operations go, VFW Post 1841 - the only game in Botetourt County - is humble at best.
In the midst of what experts say is a $250 million industry in Virginia, the veterans pull in only about $3,500 a year.
All of the profit goes to charity, Belcher said. Some goes to the county's high schools for alcohol-free after-prom parties. They give away a scholarship, help pay for veterans' funerals, and give $100 a month to the family of a veteran who lost both legs.
After the paperwork, there's the fees. It's now $200 for a state bingo permit. Then there's an audit fee of 2 percent of gross receipts, about $50 per week for VFW Post 1814.
Belcher was reluctant to complain about the fees, but said the extra expense could be going to charity.
Rowe said the $200 permit fee covers the commission's operating costs, plus a criminal background check to make sure game operators aren't convicted felons.
The 2 percent audit fee, Rowe acknowledged, is a little steep. The commission has tried to reduce it, but found it doesn't have that power. If the General Assembly gives the commission that authority, as it has requested, the fee will likely be reduced to 1 percent, Rowe said.
Ultimately, he said, getting game operators to keep better records will save them money. He believes the commission will survive. Gov. George Allen is working to keep the commission alive by making it subject to review in two years, in which time it is hoped the problems will have been cleared up.
The men at VFW Post 1841 hope so, too.
"They're about to make us quit," Belcher said, an option some may not mind. "To tell you the truth, we're just too damn old."
But in the end, the game is worth all the trouble.
"Bingo enables us to do what we're supposed to do," Paderick said, "which is support veterans."
LENGTH: Long : 114 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Roger Hart. 1. Roy Webb calls out the numbers at VFWby CNBPost 1841's hall on U.S. 220. 2. Instant bingo players check their
tickets for winners at the regular Friday night game at Fincastle
VFW Post 1841. color.