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

Chapter 5, first adopted in 1958 and approved by town election, exists to bring North Hempstead's bingo rules under GML Article 14-H after the state renumbered the authorizing statute. Section 5-3 restricts conducting a bingo game, or leasing a hall for one, to organizations licensed under Article 14-H. Section 5-4 caps games at three occasions per week per licensee or commercial lessor, and § 5-5 bars any lease arrangement where the rent is paid as a percentage of the game's receipts or net profit. Section 5-6 requires licensed organizations to buy bingo supplies only from a supplier licensed under the state Bingo Control Law or from another authorized organization, and § 5-7 requires that all net proceeds go exclusively to the organization's lawful purposes.

Prize limits are locally fixed, not left to the state default: § 5-8 caps any single game's prize at $1,000, and § 5-9 caps the aggregate of all prizes on one bingo occasion at $3,000. Section 5-10 requires the person managing or operating the game to have been a bona fide member of the sponsoring organization for at least one year, and § 5-11 bars paying anyone for managing or operating the game. Section 5-12 is the Town's own delegation choice: it hands the Town Clerk all of the licensing, investigation, hearing, supervision and fee-collection authority that the state Bingo Licensing Law otherwise gives to the Town Board, making the Clerk's office the actual licensing desk for any organization that wants to run bingo in North Hempstead.