Buffalo, NY Gambling & Gaming: Charitable Bingo and Raffles (2026)

City Code § 75-20 bars anyone other than a General Municipal Law Article 14-H licensee from conducting bingo, or from leasing a hall for bingo, for any consideration. A landlord cannot take rent as a cut of receipts or net profits from the game. Licensed organizations must buy bingo supplies and equipment only from a supplier licensed under the state Bingo Control Law (Executive Law Art. 19-B) or from another authorized organization, closing off unregulated equipment sales. Every dollar of net proceeds from a bingo game, and from any related rental income, must go exclusively to the lawful purposes of the licensed organization; nothing can be diverted to overhead unrelated to that charitable purpose.

Only bona fide members of the licensed organization may manage or run the game, and none of them can be paid for doing so, keeping the activity volunteer-run rather than a paid operation. Prizes are capped hard: no single bingo game may pay out more than $250, and no series of prizes on one bingo occasion may total more than $1,000. , drawing on the state authority in General Municipal Law § 485. Running bingo without the required Article 14-H license, or willfully violating any part of § 75-20, is punishable as a misdemeanor rather than a civil fine, which is a materially harsher exposure than the fine schedules used elsewhere in the City Code.