Big, Bad and All About Bingo!
Bingo is back
0
Click the link above to read and listen to the article about Flamingo Bingo in Rochester, Minnesota.
Have a great President’s Day Weekend evryone!
No remote caller bingo for Upland…yet.
1UPLAND – The city will not be amending its bingo ordinance any time soon.
The city’s Finance and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday decided to recommend the City Council hold off on amending the ordinance to allow remote caller bingo.
“I don’t have enough information or desire from the community to establish a linked bingo (ordinance),” Councilman Brendan Brandt said.
City staff’s recommendation to the committee was to wait until more nonprofits in the community come forward requesting the ability to play remote caller bingo games.
“Let’s just put it on the back burner and see if anyone else shows up with interest,” Councilwoman Debbie Stone said.
Remote Caller Bingo is a traditional paper and dauber bingo game where numbers that are called at one bingo location are broadcast to additional locations playing the same game.
Bingo Innovations rallied to get the state to pass Senate Bill 1090 in 2010 to allow charitable organizations participate in remote caller bingo.
Mayor Ray Musser asked City Manager Stephen Dunn to send the item to the Advisory Committee after he received a letter from Shelley Green, an account executive with Ontario-based Bingo Innovations of California. Green had requested the city consider changing its ordinance to allow charities to hold remote caller bingo fundraisers after St. Joseph’s Church in Upland expressed interest.
Green said the Upland Moose Lodge has also expressed interest.
“The interest of even one charity should be enough to establish a `desire’ from the community in Upland for Remote Called Bingo,” Green said. “We are confused by the attitude of the committee and council toward charity bingo as it is already a California State Law and we have simply asked them to adopt an ordinance already adopted by many cities across California.”
Advisory Committee members met twice to discuss the issue before presenting their findings to the council and recommend city staffers incorporate the state law on remote caller bingo into the city’s existing bingo ordinance, similar to the city of Ontario.
However, council members agreed to have the Finance and Economic Development Committee further review the proposal.
Green said she intends on continuing to work with Upland officials to make them understand the law and hopes the City Council revisits the issue without passing it to another committee.
“We believe five educated elected officials should be able to make a decision on the issue themselves,” Green said. “The facts are in black and white, and the interest is absolutely there.”
In November, Bingo Innovations sent a check for $1,134 to the Salvation Army Food Bank in Ontario from a linked bingo game held in September.
Five charities played, including the American Legions of Dixon and Ontario, Elks Lodges of Yucaipa and Desert Hot Springs as well as the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Ontario.
The original article can be found here.
Mother’s ashes stolen then returned
1A Rochester, NH woman had her mother’s ashes stolen and then returned. Diane Bozzi had placed the urn that contained her mother’s ashes into a bag that she was going to take to bingo, and placed it in her vehicle. Her vehicle was robbed and they took the urn.
Bozzi asked and pleaded for the return of the urn, which the robbers did.
GameTech International, Inc. Announces Bingo Product Approval and NIGC Certification of New GameTech EDGE Bingo System™
13 months ago
Press Release Source: GameTech International, Inc. On Tuesday October 25, 2011, 7:13 pm EDT
RENO, Nev., Oct. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — GameTech International, Inc., a leading supplier of electronic bingo equipment and video lottery terminals, today announced the certification of the GameTech EDGE Bingo System™ for the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) Minimum Technical Standards for Electronic, Computer or Other Technological Aids Used in the Play of Class II Games and the regulatory approval of the Bingo Boss™ Stand Alone Bingo Verifier and Virtual Flash Board Interface from the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
The latest version of the GameTech EDGE Bingo System™ and associated hardware were recently certified by Gaming Laboratories International, LLC (GLI) and is currently operating at several locations including the Mohawk Bingo Palace in Akwesasne, New York. This certificaiton signifies GameTech’s commitment to the Tribal bingo market through on-going development of its bingo system and new hand held electronic card minding devices. In addition, GameTech continues to develop creative new session based bingo games in paper that can now play on the’ Bingo Boss™ Stand Alone Verifier and Virtual Flash Board Interface. The Bingo Boss™ system is a compact, user-friendly electronic verifier that allows any bingo hall to play GameTech’s latest paper session bingo games without the GameTech EDGE Bingo System™. All new GameTech session bingo games will be developed for both paper and electronic play on the GameTech EDGE Bingo System™ and the new Bingo Boss™.
“We know that bingo operators are constantly looking for innovative solutions that drive revenue” commented Lorie Foerschler, GameTech’s VP of Product Management for Bingo. “At GameTech our goal is to deliver systems that perform and new bingo games that will capture the imaginations and hearts of bingo players, old and new. We are excited about these recent regulatory certifications as it signifies our momentum is increasing in our “core business” – Bingo.”
About GameTech International
GameTech International, Inc. is in the business of designing, manufacturing, and marketing electronic bingo and gaming equipment, systems, and services. Under the GameTech® product brand, the Company provides electronic bingo systems and equipment. Under the Summit Gaming™ product brand, the Company provides video lottery terminals, video gaming machines, and related software and content. GameTech International, Inc. serves customers in 40 U.S. States, Canada, Japan, and the Philippines. The Company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Reno, Nevada. More information on GameTech can be found at http://www.gametech-inc.com.
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This press release includes various “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which represent GameTech expectations or beliefs concerning future events. Statements containing expressions such as “believes,” “anticipates,” or “expects,” used in the Company’s press releases and periodic reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes its expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions within the bounds of its knowledge of its business and operations, there can be no assurances that actual results will not differ materially from expected results. The Company cautions that these and similar statements included in this report are further qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned’ not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof. GameTech undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
Budget cuts to reduce state oversight, compliance
1Budget cuts to reduce state oversight, compliance.
Interesting article about what is happening in Texas with budget cuts and the oversight of bingo in the state.
Smoking ban changes spark debate
1Lobbying for and against changes to
Springfield’s voter-approved smoking ban appears to be heating up.
One charitable organization in the city that helps children complains that bingo revenues are down tens of thousands of dollars.
With a six-month moratorium on changes now expired, City Council is scheduled to discuss possible amendments during a lunch meeting Nov. 8.
Exemptions for establishments such as tobacco shops, hookah bars, veterans’ organizations and theaters all have been suggested.
In an email to council on Saturday, former councilman Bob Chancellor asked that certain charitable bingo halls be exempted, as well.
Chancellor, an officer with the Heart of the Ozarks Sertoma Club, said revenue from the chapter’s weekly bingo nights at the Bingo Emporium was down a total of $64,350 from June to September compared to the same period in 2010.
He said the lost revenue, which otherwise would have been donated to local Boys and Girls Clubs, is the result of players moving to competing bingo halls just outside city limits, where smoking is allowed.
“Now that the council is in a position to begin considering amendments to the ban, I hope members will think about what the kids are losing and make an exception for bingo halls that have separate smoking and non-smoking rooms,” he wrote.
Supporters of the smoking ban have been speaking out, as well.
In an email distributed to council members Friday, the national advocacy group Americans for Nonsmokers’ Right and local One Air Alliance exhort supporters to mobilize and contact council members in defense of the law.
A majority of City Council members have said they would support or at least consider some amendments.
Rather than try to convince them otherwise, the email from ANR suggests supporters contact three council members — Cindy Rushefsky, John Rush and Mayor Jim O’Neal — who already “are supporters of our smokefree position …”
“The law can only be amended with a unanimous vote of City Council, so we need to encourage our supporters to stand firm and vote not to any/all exemptions,” the email says.
Rushefsky has said that, based on what she’s heard so far, she’s not inclined to support any of the proposed exemptions.
O’Neal said he hasn’t ruled out any of the suggested changes and would like to work on a narrowly-worded exemption for tobacco shops, specifically.
“I would support it, but there’s other people involved,” he said, describing the odds that any amendment will pass as “pretty slim.”
“It will have to be something everybody agrees on.”
Moving bingo games is winning call for all
1Moving bingo games is winning call for all
October 14, 2011 11:22 PM
For years, local residents have been supporting Smith-Cotton High School athletics through playing games of their own — Saturday night bingo sponsored by the Smith-Cotton Athletic Booster Club.
For any number of reasons — the economic crunch, declining awareness of the fundraiser, or others — the bingo games are not bringing in as much money as they have in the past. As reported by the Democrat’s Bob Satnan, the club has proposed moving the game from its current location on Clinton Road to the former cafeteria building on the junior high campus at 10th Street and Massachusetts Avenue.
If approved by the school board Oct. 24, the plan would allow the booster club to cut its monthly rent fee in half, from the $2,000 it currently pays UPS to $1,000 that would be paid directly to the district. The move also has the potential to raise the bingo games’ profile by relocating to a higher-traffic area; more visibility likely would mean more players, and thus more money going to support student athletics.
We acknowledge critics’ concerns about allowing gaming on school property, but bingo is not all that different from 50/50 raffles and other such games of chance, and no one seems to have a problem with them. Also, the bingo games are held every Saturday night; during Monday night’s school board work session, Smith-Cotton Junior High Principal Wade Norton said the only student activities on campus on Saturdays are sports tournaments which only occur a couple of times each year, at the most.
Through the weekly bingo games, the booster club has provided more than $1.5 million for athletics-related expenses, from stadium lighting to team warm-up suits. When the booster club provides that funding, the district is able to channel more of its dollars into classrooms. It truly is a winning proposition for all involved — bingo players, who get a weekly evening of entertainment; sports teams, who get funds to support their programs; and the district, which gets fewer requests for dollars for athletics since the booster club fills those needs.
The $1,000 per month rent the booster club would pay to the district will more than cover the $300 per month utility costs for the space, and district officials are confident they can configure the building’s obsolete kitchen area to be used for storage.
During Monday’s meeting, board members suggested altering the deal as proposed from a standing five-year agreement to a one- or two-year agreement with an option to extend; we believe this is a logical and sound approach that gives both sides an opportunity to see how the new arrangement works out.
We encourage the school board to approve the plan with the change mentioned. We also encourage residents looking for some fun on a Saturday night to grab a dauber and support our local high school athletes.