House Bill 290

Additional Games:

Adds additional games of chance such as: pools, raffle auctions and race night games.
Requires Dept. of Revenue, per regulation, to ensure that race night games are secure, random and completely based on chance.
Explicitly states that organizations are not authorized to conduct games currently regulated by the Gaming Control Board.

Definitions:

Expands the definition of “public interest purpose” to include charitable or historic activities and non-profit youth sports activities, activities relating to volunteer fire, ambulance or rescue services, and activities conducted by a veteran’s organization such as scholarships, services to support veterans and activities to honor veterans.
Defines auxiliary group and conservation organization.
Provides that if a club license is affiliated with a veteran’s organizations or volunteer fire company, the club licensee may provide funds from their 60% of small games of chance proceeds to a veteran’s organization or volunteer fire company that conducts activities for the public interest purpose.
Permits a member to immediately start a new daily or weekly drawing once the previous drawing has been held.
Allows for the concurrent running of daily and weekly drawings.
Clarifies that Liquor Control Enforcement (LCE) does not have enforcement powers over small games of chance violations with organizations which solely have a special occasion permit under the Liquor Code. LCE will retain enforcement power over any Liquor Code violations of these organizations.
Clarifies that an organization operating solely in the public interest has the ability to retain proceeds for their own charitable services

Raffles:

Clarifies that raffles, 50/50 drawings, daily drawings, weekly drawings and pools do not need to be purchased from a distributor.
Permits raffle tickets to be sold as follows:

At a discounted price
Free of charge or as part of the sale of other tickets
As bonus tickets as part of sale of other tickets
As prizes, including prizes at auctions

Distributor Licensees:

Requires the Department of Revenue to conduct and update background checks of distributors on an annual basis
Increase the distributor license fee from $1,000 to $2,000 per year
Expands the ineligibility for a distributor licensee to include violations of the Bingo Law, the Small Games Act, the Gaming Act, a gambling offense under Title 18, or any other state or federal law that is comparable

Reporting Requirements/Records:

Removes all reporting requirements for eligible organizations (those without a liquor license)
Exempts organizations making less than $40,000 in proceeds from maintaining a separate bank account
Increases the amount , from $100 to $600, for which an organization must record the name and address of a winner
Increases the amount, from $100 to $600, for when a receipt designating the prize must be given to the winner
Removes provisions in which organizations must submit background checks as a part of their application for a license
Clarifies that Department of Revenue, not LCE, is required to do biennial (changed from annual) random audits of 5% of clubs

Licensing:

Increases the license fee from $100 to $125 for a regular license
Creates a monthly license for $25 in which an organization can conduct games for a 30 day consecutive period and removes provisions for a limited occasion license
Clarifies where small games of chance can be played as follows:

An eligible organization, that is not a club licensee, may conduct games in the County where the license at their normal business site or at a location not prohibited by a local ordinance. In addition, the following apply:

No more than 3 licensees, including the licensee that owns the premise, can operate games simultaneously
A licensee shall ensure that the conduct of games by different organizations are separate and clearly identified on the premise
A licensee that is not a club licensee may conduct games simultaneously with the conduct of games by a club not more than 3 times covering a total of 7 days in a year

Removes provision which an organization must contact the District Attorney of another county if tickets are being sold out of the county which the organization is licensed

Prize limits:

The legislation increases prize limits for small games of chance as follows:

Increases individual prize limit from $1,000 to $2000
Increases weekly prize limit $25,000 to $35,000
Increases raffle prize limit from $10,000 to $15,000
Increases the single prize limit for a special raffle permit from $1000 to $3000
Increases special raffle prize from $100,000 to $150,000 per year
Clarifies that the prize of a special raffle is not part of the aggregate limit
Permits an eligible organization to apply for 10 (increased from 8) special raffle permits per year
Permits a volunteer fire, ambulance or rescue organization or conservation organization to apply for 12 (increased from 10) special raffle permits per year
Permits a volunteer fire, ambulance or rescue organization or conservation organization to have an additional award of $100,000 that is not part of the limits

Note: Provisions related to distribution of proceeds for club licensees are not included in this bill. Those were included in HB 1098 which was passed on concurrence by the Senate on 11/18/13.