E-Filing a Bingo-Raffle License Renewal

Starting November 1, current Bingo-Raffle licensees can renew their licenses for 2020, as long as your 3rd quarter 2019 quarterly report has been filed. The Secretary of State's office encourages groups to file online. If renewing online, the licensee needs to access their online account and use the “renew” link on their account’s summary page. Please do not create a new account as these filings will need to be rejected and resubmitted through your already existing account.

When filing online, the system will only accept credit or debit cards; we do not have ACH or the ability to directly transfer funds from your accounts. The card, however, does not have to be linked directly to the bingo-raffle account. A personal card could be used (we do not retain any card information once the submission is made to our office), and then reimbursed from the bingo-raffle account (we will need adequate descriptions on the schedule A that the reimbursement was for a “loan” to repay the person using their personal card for this payment). Also, the group has the option of obtaining a prepaid card where it can be loaded with the appropriate amount to cover the payment.

Reminder: Mandatory Online Filing of Landlord Licenses

Since 2018, landlord license applications have been required to be submitted electronically. There is a training guide which is available on our website, here. Landlord licenses can be renewed any time after November 1 for the 2019 license year. If you have any questions or concerns regarding accessing the system, please contact Shannon Bee at 303 894 2200 x 6406. New landlord applicants can also access the system for the initial submission of the application and creation of your online account here.

Why I Cannot File an Electronic Quarterly Report

If your organization is trying to file your quarterly report electronically, but do not see one “available” for filing, the following may be the reason:

1. You cannot file your next quarter report if the previous quarter is still open. If your prior filing shows “reject”, you will need to resubmit the filing with the corrected information. We will need to approve this correction BEFORE your next quarter report will become available. If your filing has been rejected and resubmitted, your organization will receive a verification from our office, if and when the filing is approved. This will notify you that the next report is now available. Please be diligent and be sure your report has been approved by our office to mitigate timing issues and avoid possible late filings, which may cause fines to be instituted against your organization.
2. Please also be aware, as long as the rejected filing remains open, even if you file the next quarter by paper, our office will not be able to enter the paper report until the prior quarter has been re-filed and accepted electronically. If the rejected filing has not been accepted by the deadline of the next due quarterly, the organization will still receive a fine for a late filing as our office cannot override the rejected status of your prior filing.

If you do not see a quarterly available, or in a rejected status, it would mean your organization is not currently licensed to conduct games, and therefore, would not owe any quarterly (as you should not be conducting activity without a license). If you know your organization is currently licensed, but do not see any available or rejected status quarterlies, contact our office at 303 894 2200 and ask for assistance.

Quarterly Data Points: Progressive Games

The revenue wagered on charitable gaming has remained fairly consistent over the last 5 years, but the increases realized in profit percentage has increased about 3%. The profit percentage increase from 2017 to 2018 was primarily from raffles with progressive pull tabs showing a slight increase as well. Progressive raffles are also seeing growth in recent years. To help licensees run more effective and efficient progressive raffles our office is working on an educational document to answer questions regarding this game. The numbers in the graph reflect activity reported by over 1000 licensees in all types of games including bingo, raffle, pull tabs and progressive games. (the 2019 numbers are estimated).

The annual gross amount wagered at bingo occasions (which includes bingo, progressive bingo, pull tabs and progressive pull tabs) has decreased over the last 5 years. However, even with the decrease in the total amount wagered, the games are allowing for greater profit for licensees. The increase in profit from 2016 to 2018 appears to be several factors including new games, higher payouts on pull tab games and the continued interest in progressive pull tabs. The progressive games of bingo and pull tabs are showing profit percentages of 14% and 33% respectively. This is encouraging for all those hard-working volunteers who operate about 15,000 games per year. (The 2019 numbers are estimated). The numbers used for these graphs can be found on the Q2 aggregate report on the bingo raffle page of the Secretary of State’s website under Charitable gaming financial reports.

Games Manager Training

Your organization must have at least one certified Games Manager in order to run charitable games. We recommend licensees maintain more than one Games Manager. To support this, we 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 for a scheduled class.

The dates/times/places of upcoming Games Manager training classes follow:

Saturday, November 9, 2019 at 8:30 AM. BPO Elks 160, 404 Macon Ave, Canon City, CO 81212.

Saturday, November 23, 2019 at 8:30 AM. Platteville Community Complex, 508 Reynolds Ave, Platteville, CO 80651.

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.

The Games Manager mail-in certification exam is no longer available.

Investigator Tips

Each quarter, we include a few tips from our Bingo/Raffle Investigators. They gather a lot of information in the field on where licensees have trouble complying with the law. By sharing this information, we hope that licensees can better serve their customers.

A MESSAGE FROM THE INVESTIGATORS:

We have received questions about withholding prize money from a progressive raffle from a person if they do not present their identification. The bottom line is you cannot.

There are provisions in the tax code to take out a backup withholding amount of 24% in the case that a player does not furnish their taxpayer identification number, (TIN), to the licensee. You can find that information in the IRS Publication 3079, Tax-Exempt Organizations and Gaming. There is a link to that publication on our website here. Rule 8.4.1(b)(5) states that “If the ticket purchaser selects the envelope containing the Jackpot Prize Card, the ticket purchaser wins the raffle prize amount…”. It does not provide for a house rule denying payment of a prize if the winner does not supply a TIN.

Likewise, a licensee cannot retain the jackpot prize at any time. If the jackpot prize has not been awarded, Rule 8.4.5 applies. Either the jackpot prize is: 1) Awarded; 2) Awarded to the first player whose ticket was drawn after it reached the jackpot limit; or 3) determination of a winner by drawing raffle tickets until a drawn winner selects the jackpot prize card. Rule 8.4.5(4) allows a licensee to award a jackpot in this same manner if the licensee has imposed a must-go limit less than the $15,000 limit.

You can access all bingo/raffle laws using our Bingo-Raffles Law Handbook. Please feel free to contact our office with any questions.