2000 Minnesota Statutes

     349.17 Conduct of bingo. 

    Subdivision 1.    Bingo occasions.  Not more than ten 
 bingo occasions each week may be conducted by an organization.  
 At least 15 bingo games must be held at each occasion and a 
 bingo occasion must continue for at least 1-1/2 hours but not 
 more than four consecutive hours. 

    Subd. 2.    Bingo.  During any bingo occasion conducted 
 by an organization, the organization is directly responsible for 
 the:  

    (1) staffing of the bingo occasion; 

    (2) conducting of lawful gambling during the bingo 
 occasion; 

    (3) acquiring, storage, inventory control, and reporting of 
 all gambling equipment used by the organization; 

    (4) receipt, accounting, and all expenditures of gross 
 receipts from lawful gambling; and 

    (5) preparation of the bingo packets. 

    Subd. 2a.    Distributor license exemption for lessor.  
 As part of a lease agreement on a leased bingo premises, the 
 lessor may furnish bingo equipment without being a licensed 
 distributor.  For purposes of this section, "furnish" does not 
 include the right to sell or offer for sale.  

    Subd. 3.    Winners.  Each bingo winner must be 
 determined and every prize shall be awarded and delivered the 
 same day on which the bingo occasion is conducted. 

    Subd. 4.    Checkers.  One or more checkers must be 
 engaged for each bingo occasion when bingo is conducted using 
 bingo hard cards.  The checker or checkers must record, on a 
 form the board provides, the number of hard cards played in each 
 game and the prizes awarded to recorded hard cards.  The form 
 must provide for the inclusion of the face number of each 
 winning hard card and must include a checker's certification 
 that the figures recorded are correct to the best of the 
 checker's knowledge.  

    Subd. 5.    Bingo cards and sheets.  (a) The board shall 
 by rule require that all licensed organizations:  (1) conduct 
 bingo only using liquid daubers on bingo paper sheets that bear 
 an individual number recorded by the distributor; and (2) use 
 each bingo paper sheet for no more than one bingo occasion.  In 
 lieu of the requirements of clause (2), a licensed organization 
 may electronically record the sale of each bingo hard card or 
 paper sheet at each bingo occasion using an electronic recording 
 system approved by the board. 

    (b) The requirements of paragraph (a) shall only apply to a 
 licensed organization that received gross receipts from bingo in 
 excess of $150,000 in the organization's last fiscal year. 

    Subd. 6.    Conduct of bingo.  (a) Each bingo hard card 
 and paper sheets must have five horizontal rows of spaces with 
 each row except one having five numbers.  The center row must 
 have four numbers and the center space marked "free."  Each 
 column must have one of the letters B-I-N-G-O in order at the 
 top.  Bingo paper sheets may also have numbers that are not 
 preprinted but are filled in by players. 

    (b) A game of bingo begins with the first letter and number 
 called.  Each player must cover or mark with a liquid dauber the 
 numbers when bingo balls, similarly numbered, are randomly 
 drawn, announced, and displayed to the players, either manually 
 or with a flashboard and monitor.  The game is won when a player 
 has covered or marked a previously designated arrangement of 
 numbers on the card or sheet and declared bingo.  The game is 
 completed when a winning card or sheet is verified and a prize 
 awarded.  

    HIST: 1976 c 261 s 7; 1979 c 166 s 1; 1984 c 502 art 12 s 11; 
 1986 c 467 s 16; 1987 c 327 s 15,16; 1988 c 596 s 3,4; 1989 c 
 334 art 2 s 26; 1990 c 590 art 1 s 28; 1991 c 336 art 2 s 24; 
 1994 c 633 art 5 s 68-71; 1995 c 186 s 69; 1995 c 261 s 23