Reminder: Quarterly Reports Due July 31
Remember, if you hold a current 2013 license, you MUST submit your LE-21 Quarterly Report form by July 31, 2013, even if you did not have any charitable gaming activity during the quarter. The report covers the period for April through June of 2013.
Reports filed after this date will be assessed a $50 late filing fine. In addition, if you file late, you may be subject to reporting fees (see article on right).
If you have any questions or concerns, contact Lisa Marty at lisa.marty@coloradosos.gov.
Braille Cards
The only bingo card that may be reserved for any player is a braille card for the visually impaired. In fact, visually impaired individuals may bring their own braille cards to play bingo!
Bingo/raffle licensees have the right to inspect these cards and to reject them if they determine that the cards somehow give the player an unfair advantage over others. For example, a player may have an advantage if the card has been damaged or tampered with. To reference the statute regarding braille cards, please access the Bingo/Raffles Laws and Rules Handbook. The specific statute is §12-9-107(27), C.R.S.
You can purchase braille cards through most bingo suppliers. As a helpful tip, you might want to consider having a few braille cards on hand as an additional service to your visually impaired players.
Bingo/Raffle Market Study
Many of you attended Jon Runge's April 17 presentation of the Bingo/Raffle Market Study. The Secretary of State's office funded the study to get a pulse on the bingo community, and to provide recommendations for improving bingo as a source of funding for Colorado nonprofits.
If you missed the presentation, not to worry! A video and PDF of the entire final presentation is available on our website. We welcome any comments you may have about the study and the recommendations put forward by Mr. Runge. Please feel free to email us at licensing@coloradosos.gov.
One final thanks to all who participated in this study. Your input was instrumental in providing us with a clear picture of the current state of the bingo/raffle community.
Bingo/Raffle Advisory Board Meeting
The next Bingo-Raffle Advisory Board meeting will be held July 10. All members of the public are welcome to attend and participate. The Board will be discussing potential rules changes regarding progressive raffles (see article on legislation to the right), so we hope to have a broad range of bingo-raffle stakeholders present.
Day: Wednesday, July 10
Time: 10:00am-12:00pm
Location: 1700 Broadway, Blue Spruce Room (Second Floor), Denver, CO 80290
We are also excited to welcome three new members to the Board.
Ms. Meredith Edwards joins the Board representing Colorado Storm Soccer Club. Since 2010, Ms. Edwards has served as the Club's Fundraising Manager, and brings a wealth of bingo knowledge to the Board.
Mr. Donivin Glassburn represents bingo hall owners in the state. He has been involved with charitable gaming in Colorado and across the country for decades, and his wealth of knowledge and experience make him a welcome addition to the board.
Mr. Perry Jultak joins us as a representative of Congregation BMH-BJ, where he has filled a number of roles throughout the years. His group currently plays at Turn of the Century Bingo in Aurora.
|
Bingo/Raffle Fee Changes
In October 2012, our office reduced all fees for the bingo-raffle community. To date, we estimate that this has saved bingo-raffle licensees, manufacturers, suppliers and landlords over $300,000.
When we announced the fee reduction, we indicated we would review fee levels on a quarterly basis to ensure that the funds coming into our office are sufficient to cover our operations, as required by statute. Based on this analysis, starting July 1—the beginning of the third quarter of 2013—most bingo-raffle fees will return to their previous levels. We are very pleased to have been able to offer reduced quarterly report fees for four full quarters.
Very Important: While most fees will revert to previous levels on July 1, 2013, quarterly report fees will remain the same until the second quarter filing deadline of July 31, 2013. So, your organization will still pay nothing for its second quarterly report filing as long as you file before the deadline.
We will post additional reminders on our website, but please feel free to get in touch with any questions in the meantime at 303-894-2200 or licensing@coloradosos.gov.
50/50 Raffles: A Success Story
Earlier this year, the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) and Kroenke Sports Charities (KSC) formed a partnership to raise funds through 50/50 raffles at Nuggets, Avalanche, and Mammoth games. The partnership was a logical match, as both groups support their communities through education and sports programming aimed at youth and their families.
CAHA supports amateur youth and adult hockey programs around the state and KSC, the charitable arm of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, supports Colorado communities through education and recreation initiatives for under-served children and families.
Before initiating their 50/50 campaign, CAHA and KSC approached the Colorado Secretary of State’s office to ensure that they had covered all of their bases. The office worked with the two nonprofits to obtain licenses and create a plan to run legal raffles using CAHA volunteers. The rest is raffle history. In 19 games, volunteers sold almost $113,000 in raffle tickets! Over $45,000 of these proceeds went directly to support youth sports in Colorado, with the remainder going to lucky raffle winners and to cover raffle-related costs.
If you’d like to read more about the CAHA/Kroenke success story, visit our success stories web page. And, if you have a great story to tell, we want to hear about it. See below for details on how to submit success stories and how your organization can save on licensing and reporting fees.
|
Get Your Fees Waived: Submit a Bingo/Raffle Success Story
We are pleased to announce a call for submissions for bingo and raffle success stories that highlight the great work that our licensees are doing within their communities. Our goal is to disseminate best practices in bingo, raffle, and pull tabs while showing Coloradoans how charitable gaming makes a difference in our state. We will feature stories on our website and in our quarterly newsletter.
And here’s the best part: if we select your story, we will waive your 2014 license renewal fee (a $100 value) or waive up to $250 on either your 2013 third or fourth quarter reporting fees. We’re looking for exceptional and engaging stories of success that emphasize how bingo and raffle proceeds are used to benefit the community. If you have a great story to share, we would love to hear from you.
Please send an email to Jordan Sauers at Jordan.Sauers@coloradosos.gov with “Success Story Submission” in the subject headline. Also include in your response a brief summary (3-4 sentences) highlighting your success in charitable gaming along with your organization’s name, address, contact person, and phone number. Our office will follow up with you to gather more details. We look forward to hearing about your work!
New Bingo/Raffle Legislation
As you may have heard, the Colorado General Assembly passed two bills related to charitable gaming in the state. Here's a quick run-down on both of them:
- House Bill 13-1260 eliminated the 35-game limit per bingo occasion. This means that, starting on August 7, 2013, you may run as many bingo games as you like during an occasion, provided you do not exceed the $2,000 maximum bingo jackpot limit, and that you remain in compliance with all other statutes, rules, and reporting requirements.
- House Bill 13-1101 added progressive raffles as one of the allowable charitable gaming activities. Please note that this law is not effective until January 1, 2014. Our office will be revising the bingo/raffle rules to provide clear guidance to licensees on the types of progressive raffles allowed, operating requirements, and reporting formats. We will provide more details on the rulemaking process in future newsletters and other venues.
Please contact our office by email at licensing@coloradosos.gov with any questions regarding these new laws.
|
Games Manager Training
We continue to offer in-person and online Games Manager training courses.
Sign up for the online eLearning course on our website.
For in-person classes, visit our Games Manager Training page and follow the instructions to sign up.
You can also sign up to host a Games Manager training course. Follow this link to provide us with a few details about you and your organization, and host a class soon.
Meet Our Office: Larry Runn
We are pleased to welcome Larry Runn, Lead Nonprofits Investigator, and the newest member of the Bingo/Raffle team. In this role, Larry will lead a team of investigators to support both the Bingo/Raffle and Charities programs in pursuing and correcting compliance issues.
Larry already has a long history with nonprofits in Colorado: he started with the Secretary of State’s office in 2002, and worked as a Bingo/Raffle Investigator in the past. Before accepting this new position, he served for five years as the Charities Compliance Investigator, where he provided investigative and compliance support to over 10,000 charities customers throughout the state. We are all very excited to welcome Larry back to the Bingo/Raffle community.
|
