History

The conduct of bingo games by charitable organizations was legalized by the General Assembly in 1973. At that time, an exception to the general prohibition against gambling was created for bingo games and raffles to allow non-profit religious, educational, charitable and community organizations to raise needed funds. During the 1978 Session of the Virginia General Assembly , House Joint Resolution No. 155 was passed and directed a joint subcommittee of the House and Senate Committees on General laws to undertake a comprehensive study of the bingo laws of the Commonwealth. The passage of this resolution was the result and concern of the General Assembly that large amounts of cash were being exchanged during the bingo games and there was a significant lack of uniformity from one locality to another in the control of bingo games. They surmised that as a result, bingo games were essentially an unregulated exchange of large sums of money. As a result of the study, House Document 39 (1979), the original bingo laws were replaced with a more comprehensive statutory design.

Senate Joint Resolution No. 195, agreed to during the 1993 Session of the Virginia General Assembly , established a joint subcommittee to study the State statute governing bingo and raffles. The main issues to be addressed were: (i) rental fees paid to bingo facility operators, (ii) percentages of profits actually returned to charitable organizations, and (iii) bogus charities acting as fronts for illegal bingo operations. Bingo was declared “the perfect white-collar crime” in the Racketeering and Organized Crime in the Bingo Industry – April 1992 – Pennsylvania Crime Commission Report, a publication utilized under the Senate Joint Resolution No. 195 study. Senate Joint Resolution No. 12 agreed to during the 1994 Session of the Virginia General Assembly, continued the work of the subcommittee to address the transfer of control over all charitable gaming activities, including organizations, operators, suppliers, and fair market rental value. As a result of the joint subcommittee studies, Senate Document 63 (1994) and Senate Document 57 (1995), the Virginia Charitable Gaming Commission (the “Commission”) was created with passage of Senate Bill 1020 during the 1995 Session of the Virginia General Assembly. The goals of the legislation were to address major concerns with charitable gaming in the Commonwealth that were the result of rampant abuses, including fraud and embezzlement, due to inconsistent local regulation and enforcement of gaming activities. In addition, prior to the creation of the Commission, a very small percentage of money raised under the guise of charity went to charity. Thus, effective July 1, 1996, the Commonwealth of Virginia joined 37 other states that provide statewide oversight of charitable gaming.

With the passage of Senate Bill 1278 during the 2003 Session of the Virginia General Assembly, the Charitable Gaming Board (the "Board") and the Department of Charitable Gaming (the "Department") were established to replace the Charitable Gaming Commission.