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Legislature votes to ban free games for seniors

Wednesday, October 09, 2002

By John M.R. Bull, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Correspondent

HARRISBURG -- The state lives off the $923 million that the state Lottery generates annually.

Betting at race tracks is fine. Lawmakers are poised to OK slot machines at the tracks. Others want riverboat casinos, too.

But Wal-Mart can no longer allow free bingo games for seniors to be held in its stores, the state House decided yesterday.

"All these legislators talk the talk about how they're concerned for and work to improve the lives of senior citizens," grumbled state Rep. Camille "Bud" George, D-Clearfield. "Well, the Grinches won today's vote. and Pennsylvania is safe from seniors playing free bingo at Wal-Mart or any other retailer."

For years, Wal-Mart has permitted weekly bingo games to be held at some of its 50 stores across the state. There was no admission fee, no charge to play, no betting was done, and winners would receive small prizes such as paper towels or toilet paper from the store.

Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Williams said last night the bingo games weren't sponsored by the store but were started by senior citizens who would socialize in McDonald's or other restaurants in Wal-Mart stores. They asked managers if they could play and the store managers permitted the games, with bingo numbers sometimes being called by a sales associate but usually by a senior citizen.

"It was an ad hoc thing, it was something that was started spontaneously by the senior citizens themselves," Williams said, adding he had no way of knowing how many Pennsylvania stores had bingo games because decisions to permit them were made on a local level.

"It was a social hour for them. They enjoyed it and we enjoyed it because they're our customers," Williams said. "The seniors are not happy about it [ending] and we're not happy about it either. It's very unfortunate."

Williams said it was such senior-sponsored bingo games are held in Wal-Marts elsewhere in the country and added he has seen them in fast-food restaurants not affiliated with Wal-Mart.

But someone in Lebanon County complained in August about the practice, and the district attorney there decided the bingo games violated the state's small games of chance law, which allows only state-licensed, not-for-profit community organization such as fire companies to run bingo games.

Wal-Mart has no license and is in business to make money, so it couldn't get a state license.

Thus, the national chain was forced to stop all bingo games at all stores in Pennsylvania, and wait for the Legislature to clarify the law.

George, D-Clearfield, said he received hundreds of calls from seniors in his area and offered an amendment to another bill yesterday to allow Wal-Mart to restart the games.

"If people were not betting any money, then there was no gambling here," he argued. "Running a promotion where people don't bet anything and you give out prizes isn't gambling either."

The state House -- led by the Republican majority -- yesterday decided it was indeed gambling, and declined to change the law to allow Wal-Mart to hold bingo games. The proposal was shot down 106-92.

It would promote a culture of gambling, some representatives argued.

Other lawmakers argued that authorizing Wal-Mart bingos would set a precedent that would allow other companies to do the same thing, and that could result in McDonald's holding bingos and that would wrongly expose minors to gambling.

"How in the world are you ever going to police that?" wondered state Rep Jerry Birmelin, R-Wayne. "What we're doing is setting up a wide-open field for the operation of bingo ... and that would really be promoting the gambling culture."

Some lawmakers argued that it was an improper way to draw people into stores, and therefore shouldn't be allowed.

State Rep. Joe Markosek, D-Monroeville, noted that many for-profit businesses have promotions and it's perfectly legal.

Bingo may not be his cup of tea, he said, but "if they had bobblehead night, I'd go there more often," he said.

"It was a simple, common sense measure that would have clarified the law and allowed seniors to keep enjoying these bingo games ," said Mike Manzo, chief of staff for House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg. "I can't imagine how the House Republicans could have felt there was any harm in this.

"If it took us two hours to decide that seniors can't play bingo for free, we have a lot of work to do on slot machines and riverboat casinos," he added.

George said he would try again in the future to have Wal-Mart bingo authorized.

"You can bet on that," he joked.

Staff writer Michael Fuoco contributed to this report.