DATE: Thursday, June 5, 1997                TAG: 9706050470

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW DOLAN and JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITERS 

                                            LENGTH:   84 lines

STATE WANTS TO REIN IN BINGO CHARITY FUNDS ARE OFTEN MISSPENT, OFFICIAL SAYS

The state has taken action it believes will put the charity back in charitable bingo.

By Oct. 1, about 600 bingo operators in Virginia will have to comply with stringent new regulations regarding how much of their proceeds goes to charity. And the amount will increase each fiscal year for the next three years.

For instance, the largest games - those with annual gross receipts exceeding $500,000 - will have to return 9 percent to charity. The next year, the amount will rise to 12 percent.

The regulations, which were approved Tuesday by the state Charitable Gaming Commission, will also require bingo operators to disclose in printed advertisements how much of their bingo take is spent on charitable purposes beginning July 1. The commission has until December to modify these regulations before they become permanent.

The requirements came on the heels of a major investigation by the commission that resulted Tuesday in 15 criminal charges against a former bingo manager of a Chesapeake youth baseball league and three alleged accomplices.

The new disclosure requirement was a sore point for one commission member at the agency's meeting in Richmond Tuesday.

``Customers don't care how much money is going to charity,'' said Commissioner Charles A. Theisen, who runs a charity bingo game. ``Customers care about how much they're going to win in the bingo game.''

But that comment brought this retort from Chairman Edward J. Fuhr: ``What about a $1 million bingo game that gives no money to charity?''

Fuhr's new advertising requirement passed by a vote of 4 to 1.

The new requirement regarding bingo proceeds, which are due to increase through 1999, have groups from Veterans of Foreign Wars posts to Girl Scouts worried about meeting the rising bar.

Beginning Oct. 1, organizations with $25,000 to $150,000 in annual gross receipts will have to return 4 percent to charity.

The next year, it will rise to 5 percent.

Organizations with annual gross receipts from $150,001 to $500,000 will have to return 6 percent to charity. The next year, the figure will rise to 10 percent.

By comparison, about 8 percent of all charitable gaming dollars currently go to charitable purposes in southeastern Virginia.

``Many organizations already contribute 25 percent or more to their charitable purpose,'' said state Secretary of Administration Michael E. Thomas.

``But too many do not.''

Even when there are charitable donations, Thomas said, many were inappropriately spent.

He said one group spent its ``charity'' dollars on $232 worth of party favors for New Year's Eve, another spent $3,200 on softball equipment and another $80,000 on health benefits for employees.

Even some approved real estate expenses, he said, can seem outlandish: like an $800 bill to improve a horseshoe pit.

In light of recent scandals, pressure on bingo operations to show a better use of their money could be increasing - especially when some gambling operations in the state can report a strong return.

Some groups have found that raffles - still overseen by the state commission if their receipts are at least $25,000 annually - can generate large amounts of money for charity.

The Virginia Symphony has held a raffle for eight years. A recent drawing featured prizes of a Mercedes Roadster convertible, a trip to Canada and a pair of box seats for a concert.

In 1996, the Virginia Symphony League used 58 percent of its gross receipts for charity.

``Every nickel that we get for our raffle is given to the operating budget of The Virginia Symphony,'' said Winnie Maddock Baldwin, raffle chairman for the Virginia Symphony League and a member of the board of The Virginia Symphony. ``How do we do it? We don't pay rent for the hall, we don't have security people and we don't have restaurant expenses.''

Pam Perri, the executive director of the National Association of Fundraising Ticket Manufacturers, said southeastern Virginia's 8 percent return to charities is not far from the national average of 9 percent.

``Eight percent isn't bad, especially in a state that just came under state regulation,'' she said.

``If this was a for-profit business, an 8 percent margin is not bad. I think that's awfully important to remember. I think the public wants to see a higher percentage, but it costs money to do this type of thing.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Illustration] KEYWORDS: BINGO CHARITY GAMING COMMISSION

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu