HCS/HB's 620 & 671 - This act modifies laws regarding bingo. Under current law, an abbreviated license is required for organizations which conduct bingo games on nor more than four occasions annually at which pull-tab cards may be used. This act increases the number of occasions at which bingo games may be conducted under an abbreviated license to no more than fifteen annually. Under current law all organizations licensed to conduct bingo games to pay a $50 annual license fee, unless they award winners of bingo games with prizes and merchandise that have an aggregate value less than five thousand dollars annually and less than one hundred dollars in a single day, in which case they must only pay a ten dollar fee. This act removes the ten dollar fee option and requires all organizations licensed to conduct bingo games to pay a fifty dollar annual license fee. The Missouri Gaming Commission is authorized to establish the daily prize amount for nonprogressive bingo games. The act removes provisions allowing licensees to require players to purchase more than a standard pack of bingo cards in order to participate in a bingo game and limiting prizes for a single special game bingo card to no more than fifty cents. Licensees will be allowed to conduct bingo games twice a week instead of once a week as provided under current law. The amount of total bingo receipts which may be used for advertising is increased from two percent to ten percent. The act repeals prohibition on advertisements by licensees which reference aggregate values of bingo prizes. Under current law, no games can be conducted between midnight and 10 a.m. This act prohibits bingo games from operating between the hours of 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. All licensees must to make quarterly reports to the commission. The record retention requirement for bingo and pull-tab licensees is decreased from three to two years. The two percent gross receipts sales tax on pull-tab cards and the two-tenths of one cent tax on each bingo card sold by charitable organizations conducting bingo in this state are repealed. The one-time application fee for a manufacturer's license is increased from an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars to an amount not to exceed five thousand dollars and the renewal fee is increased from an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars to an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars. Applicants for a supplier's or manufacturer's license are responsible for all investigative costs incurred by the commission.
JASON ZAMKUS