Charitable Bingo and Raffles

Alabama has no statewide charitable gaming law. Nonprofit bingo is legal only in the roughly 18 counties that adopted their own constitutional amendment authorizing it, Jefferson…

Alaska bans gambling outright under AS 11.66, but the Department of Revenue's Tax Division issues charitable-gaming permits under AS 05.15 letting municipalities and qualified…

Arizona lets a nonprofit with federal 501(c) tax-exempt status run a raffle without a gambling license under A.R.S. Section 13-3302(B), so long as it has operated in-state for a full…

Arkansas allows charitable bingo and raffles only under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-114-101 et seq., administered by the Department of Finance and Administration under DFA Rule 2007-4. A…

California Penal Code § 326.5 lets only tax-exempt nonprofits, mobilehome park associations, senior groups, and school-affiliated charities run bingo, and only under a local city or…

Colorado bars all lotteries and games of chance except licensed bingo and raffles run by charities. The Secretary of State issues bingo-raffle licenses only to religious, charitable…

Connecticut's charitable gaming law splits by game type: bingo needs an affirmative town vote before any organization can apply for a permit, while bazaars and raffles have been legal…

Delaware's Board of Charitable Gaming, created under 28 Del. C. § 1505 to protect the public, licenses bingo, raffles, and pull-tab games for veterans', religious, and charitable…

District of Columbia law bars any bingo game, raffle, or Monte Carlo night party without a license from the Office of Lottery and Gaming under D.C. Code § 36-601.23. Only nonprofits…

Florida lets charitable, nonprofit, and veterans' organizations run bingo without applying for any state gaming license: the statute itself sets the eligibility bar and the limits. A…

Georgia permits charitable gambling only through two licensed programs: nonprofit raffles licensed by the county sheriff under O.C.G.A. § 16-12-22.1, and nonprofit bingo licensed by…

Hawaii has no charitable-gaming exemption: HRS § 712-1220 defines any paid-entry raffle, bingo game, or drawing as a "lottery," and Chapter 712 excludes only bona fide business…

Idaho's constitution bans gambling outright except for three narrow carve-outs, one of them 'bingo and raffle games ... operated by qualified charitable organizations' (Idaho Const…

Illinois nonprofits need a Department of Revenue license before running charitable games, capped at 4 days a year, with single bets at house-banked games limited to $20 and cash…

Indiana requires any charity, civic, fraternal, or veterans group to hold a license from the Indiana Gaming Commission before running bingo, raffles, pull tabs, punchboards, tip…

Iowa Code chapter 99B bars any nonprofit from running bingo, raffles, games of skill or chance, or a game night until the Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing issues a…

Kan. Const. art. 15, § 3a lets the legislature license bingo for nonprofits, and the Kansas Charitable Gaming Act, K.S.A. 75-5171 et seq., vests that power exclusively in the state: no…

Kentucky's Office of Charitable Gaming, under the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation, licenses every charitable organization running bingo, raffles, or charity game tickets…

Louisiana leaves charitable raffles, bingo, and keno to local option: each municipal and parish governing authority decides under La. R.S. 4:706 whether to permit the games at all. A…

Maine requires a license or registration from the Gambling Control Unit before any nonprofit, fraternal, religious, or civic group can run card games, raffles, tournament games, or an…

Maryland regulates charitable bingo and raffles county by county, not through one statewide code. Criminal Law Title 13, "Gaming, Local Provisions," gives each jurisdiction its own…

Massachusetts law bans commercial gambling but carves out G.L. c. 271 § 7A for nonprofit raffles and bazaars: veterans', religious, fraternal, educational, and civic groups that have…

Michigan bars bingo, raffles, charity games, numeral games, and millionaire parties unless a licensed 'qualified organization' runs them under the Traxler-McCauley-Law-Bowman Bingo…

Nonprofit, fraternal, veterans', and religious organizations need a license from the Gambling Control Board before running bingo, raffles, paddlewheels, tipboards, or pull-tabs. Minn…

Mississippi allows nonprofit civic, veteran, religious, and wildlife-conservation groups to run bingo and pull-tabs under the Charitable Bingo Law once the Mississippi Gaming…

Missouri lets religious, charitable, fraternal, veteran, and service groups run bingo only after the Missouri Gaming Commission issues a license under RSMo Chapter 313. An organization…

Montana exempts 501(c)(3), (c)(4), (c)(8), and (c)(19) nonprofits from the state gambling permit fee to run charitable bingo, keno, and raffles under MCA 23-5-406. Groups exempted…

Nebraska's Charitable Gaming Division, created inside the Department of Revenue by Neb. Rev. Stat. § 9-1,101, is the single regulator for every form of nonprofit gambling in the state…

Nevada regulates charitable bingo, poker, blackjack and raffle-style lotteries entirely through NRS Chapter 462, administered by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Only a "qualified…

New Hampshire lets nonprofits and veterans' groups run licensed "casino night" games of chance, poker, blackjack, roulette, for up to 10 days a year under RSA 287-D, with the Lottery…

New Jersey lets churches, veterans posts, fire companies, and other nonprofits run bingo or raffles only after two steps: registration with the state's Legalized Games of Chance…

New Mexico requires any nonprofit that runs bingo, raffles, or pull-tabs for the public to hold a Gaming Control Board license under the Bingo and Raffle Act, NMSA 1978 §§ 60-2F-3 and…

New York grants no automatic right to run charitable gambling. General Municipal Law Article 9-A lets a town, city, or village opt in to games of chance by local law or ordinance, but…

North Carolina lets exempt nonprofits run bingo and raffles under Chapter 14, Part 2's charitable-gaming statutes. Bingo requires a $200 annual license from the Alcohol Law Enforcement…

North Dakota's Attorney General licenses every charitable gambling operation under N.D.C.C. ch. 53-06.1: bingo, raffles, pull tabs, electronic pull tab devices, and even blackjack…

Ohio requires every charitable organization to hold an attorney general license before running bingo, instant bingo, or electronic instant bingo. R.C. 2915.08 sets three license types…

Oklahoma bans commercial bingo but lets charitable nonprofits run bingo, U-PIK-EM bingo, and breakopen ticket games under an ABLE Commission license. The Oklahoma Charity Games Act (3A…

Oregon nonprofit, fraternal, and religious organizations must hold a Department of Justice license before running bingo, lotto, raffle, or Monte Carlo fundraising events. DOJ won't…

Pennsylvania nonprofits can't run raffles, punchboards, or 50/50 drawings for charity until their own municipality's voters approve it in a referendum. Once approved, the county…

Rhode Island lets only registered charitable organizations run bingo, raffles, and similar games of chance, under R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-19-30 et seq. The State Police Charitable Gaming…

South Carolina outlaws lotteries and raffles unless conducted under one of three authorized programs: the state Education Lottery, Charitable Bingo (S.C. Code § 12-21-3910 et seq.), or…

South Dakota bans lotteries and gambling as a Class 2 misdemeanor, but SDCL 22-25-25 exempts bingo and lotteries run by veterans', religious, charitable, fraternal, civic, service, or…

Tennessee bans gambling outright, but Title 3, Chapter 17 lets a qualifying 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(19) nonprofit run one raffle, reverse raffle, cakewalk, cake wheel, or bingo event per…

Texas nonprofits can conduct bingo only under a license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which absorbed the Texas Lottery Commission's charitable bingo program on…

Utah's gambling statute defines a "lottery" to include any raffle or gift enterprise where entrants pay for a chance at a prize, and folds lottery directly into the criminal definition…

Vermont's criminal code bans gambling outright, but 13 V.S.A. § 2143 carves out nonprofits: charitable, religious, educational, civic, and fraternal groups may run raffles, bingo, and…

Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services controls all charitable gaming under Code § 18.2-340.15, treating it as a revocable privilege rather than a right. A…

Washington exempts bona fide charitable and nonprofit organizations from Gambling Commission licensing when raffle, bingo, or amusement-game revenue stays under $5,000 a year…

West Virginia bans commercial bingo and raffles but licenses both for charities. Under the Bingo Act and Charitable Raffles Act, Chapter 47, Articles 20 and 21, the Tax Commissioner…

Wisconsin bans gambling as a crime, but Wis. Stat. § 563.11(1) lets bona fide religious, charitable, service, fraternal, or veterans organizations apply to the Department of…

Wyoming's criminal gambling statute excludes bingo, pull tabs, raffles, and calcutta wagering from the definition of "gambling" only when run by a charitable or nonprofit organization…