Bingo gambling/senior groups

AN ACT Relating to permitting senior-focused groups to engage in 1
certain bingo gambling activities; and amending RCW 9.46.0209 and 2
9.46.0321. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
Sec. 1. RCW 9.46.0209 and 2021 c 176 s 5202 are each amended to 5
read as follows: 6
(1)(a) "Bona fide charitable or nonprofit organization," as used 7
in this chapter, means: 8
(i) Any organization duly existing under the provisions of 9
chapter 24.12, 24.20, or 24.28 RCW, any agricultural fair authorized 10
under the provisions of chapter 15.76 or 36.37 RCW, or any nonprofit 11
corporation duly existing under the provisions of chapter 19.09 or 12
24.03A RCW for charitable, benevolent, eleemosynary, educational, 13
civic, patriotic, political, religious, scientific, social, 14
fraternal, athletic, or agricultural purposes only, or any nonprofit 15
organization, whether incorporated or otherwise, when found by the 16
commission to be organized and operating for one or more of the 17
aforesaid purposes only, all of which in the opinion of the 18
commission have been organized and are operated primarily for 19
purposes other than the operation of gambling activities authorized 20
under this chapter; or 21
S-0895.1
SENATE BILL 5565
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators McCune, Boehnke, Fortunato, Holy, J. Wilson, Dozier,
Torres, and Harris
p. 1 SB 5565
(ii) Any corporation which has been incorporated under Title 36 1
U.S.C. and whose principal purposes are to furnish volunteer aid to 2
members of the armed forces of the United States and also to carry on 3
a system of national and international relief and to apply the same 4
in mitigating the sufferings caused by pestilence, famine, fire, 5
floods, and other national calamities and to devise and carry on 6
measures for preventing the same. 7
(b) An organization defined under (a) of this subsection must:8
(i) Have been organized and continuously operating for at least 9
twelve calendar months immediately preceding making application for 10
any license to operate a gambling activity, or the operation of any 11
gambling activity authorized by this chapter for which no license is 12
required; and 13
(ii) Demonstrate to the commission that it has made significant 14
progress toward the accomplishment of the purposes of the 15
organization during the twelve consecutive month period preceding the 16
date of application for a license or license renewal. The fact that 17
contributions to an organization do not qualify for charitable 18
contribution deduction purposes or that the organization is not 19
otherwise exempt from payment of federal income taxes pursuant to the 20
internal revenue code of 1954, as amended, shall constitute prima 21
facie evidence that the organization is not a bona fide charitable or 22
nonprofit organization for the purposes of this section.23
(c) Any person, association or organization which pays its 24
employees, including members, compensation other than is reasonable 25
therefor under the local prevailing wage scale shall be deemed paying 26
compensation based in part or whole upon receipts relating to 27
gambling activities authorized under this chapter and shall not be a 28
bona fide charitable or nonprofit organization for the purposes of 29
this chapter. 30
(2) For the purposes of RCW 9.46.0315 and 9.46.110, a bona fide 31
nonprofit organization can be licensed by the commission and 32
includes: 33
(a) A credit union organized and operating under state or federal 34
law. All revenue less prizes and expenses received from raffles 35
conducted by credit unions must be devoted to purposes authorized 36
under this section for charitable and nonprofit organizations; and37
(b) A group of executive branch state employees that:38
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(i) Has requested and received revocable approval from the 1
agency's chief executive official, or such official's designee, to 2
conduct one or more raffles in compliance with this section;3
(ii) Conducts a raffle solely to raise funds for either the state 4
combined fund drive, created under RCW 41.04.033; an entity approved 5
to receive funds from the state combined fund drive; or a charitable 6
or benevolent entity, including but not limited to a person or family 7
in need, as determined by a majority vote of the approved group of 8
employees. No person or other entity may receive compensation in any 9
form from the group for services rendered in support of this purpose;10
(iii) Promptly provides such information about the group's 11
receipts, expenditures, and other activities as the agency's chief 12
executive official or designee may periodically require, and 13
otherwise complies with this section and RCW 9.46.0315; and14
(iv) Limits the participation in the raffle such that raffle 15
tickets are sold only to, and winners are determined only from, the 16
employees of the agency. 17
(3) For the purposes of RCW 9.46.0277, a bona fide nonprofit 18
organization also includes a county, city, or town, provided that all 19
revenue less prizes and expenses from raffles conducted by the 20
county, city, or town must be used for community activities or 21
tourism promotion activities. 22
(4) For the purposes of bingo operated under RCW 9.46.0321, a 23
bona fide nonprofit organization also includes a senior center, 24
senior housing organization, senior living center, or a senior living 25
community where the minimum age to reside in the community is 55 26
years of age.27
Sec. 2. RCW 9.46.0321 and 1987 c 4 s 28 are each amended to read 28
as follows: 29
Bona fide charitable or bona fide nonprofit organizations 30
organized primarily for purposes other than the conduct of such 31
activities are hereby authorized to conduct bingo, raffles, and 32
amusement games, without obtaining a license to do so from the 33
commission but only when: 34
(1) Such activities are held in accordance with all other 35
requirements of this chapter, other applicable laws, and rules of the 36
commission; 37
(2) ((Said)) (a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, 38
said activities are, alone or in any combination, conducted no more 39
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than twice each calendar year and over a period of no more than 1
twelve consecutive days each time, notwithstanding the limitations of 2
RCW 9.46.0205: PROVIDED, That a raffle conducted under this 3
subsection may be conducted for a period longer than twelve days;4
(b) A senior center, senior housing organization, senior living 5
center, or a senior living community where the minimum age to reside 6
in the community is 55 years of age may conduct a bingo game once 7
each week; 8
(3) Only bona fide members of that organization, who are not paid 9
for such services, participate in the management or operation of the 10
activities; 11
(4) ((Gross)) (a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, 12
gross revenues to the organization from all the activities together 13
do not exceed five thousand dollars during any calendar year;14
(b) Gross revenues to a senior center, senior housing 15
organization, senior living center, or a senior living community 16
where the minimum age to reside in the community is 55 years of age 17
from bingo do not exceed $10,000 during any calendar year;18
(5) All revenue therefrom, after deducting the cost of prizes and 19
other expenses of the activity, is devoted solely to the purposes for 20
which the organization qualifies as a bona fide charitable or 21
nonprofit organization; 22
(6) The organization gives notice at least five days in advance 23
of the conduct of any of the activities to the local police agency of 24
the jurisdiction within which the activities are to be conducted of 25
the organization's intent to conduct the activities, the location of 26
the activities, and the date or dates they will be conducted; and27
(7) The organization conducting the activities maintains records 28
for a period of one year from the date of the event which accurately 29
show at a minimum the gross revenue from each activity, details of 30
the expenses of conducting the activities, and details of the uses to 31
which the gross revenue therefrom is put. 32
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