Nebraska Charitable Gaming Division Oversees Bingo, Raffles, Pickle Cards

Section 9-1,101 of the Nebraska Revised Statutes creates the Charitable Gaming Division within the Department of Revenue and hands it exclusive administration and enforcement of five statutes: the Nebraska Bingo Act, the Nebraska County and City Lottery Act, the Nebraska Lottery and Raffle Act, the Nebraska Pickle Card Lottery Act, and the Nebraska Small Lottery and Raffle Act, plus section 9-701. Any nonprofit corporation, church, veterans' post, volunteer fire company, or emergency squad that wants to run bingo, sell pickle cards, or hold a raffle in Nebraska answers to this one division rather than a city clerk or county board.

The statute also builds the money side of the system. Forty percent of the taxes collected under the bingo tax (§ 9-239), the pickle card tax (§ 9-344), the raffle and lottery tax (§ 9-429), and the city/county lottery tax (§ 9-648) is set aside for the Charitable Gaming Division's own administration and enforcement costs and for the State Racing and Gaming Commission's support of the Nebraska Commission on Problem Gambling; the remaining sixty percent goes to the General Fund. From July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2026, the State Treasurer must additionally transfer $100,000 every quarter, $400,000 a year, out of the Charitable Gaming Operations Fund into the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund, a fixed subsidy for gambling-addiction treatment tied directly to charitable gaming tax revenue.

Enforcement has teeth beyond audits. The Tax Commissioner employs investigators who hold full law-enforcement authority, the same power to carry out the law as a police officer, to police charitable gaming operations and to enforce Nebraska's separate criminal gambling-device statutes, §§ 28-1101 to 28-1117, which cover unlawful possession of slot machines and other gambling devices. The Division also charges publication and copy fees, capped at actual cost, with the proceeds recycled back into the Charitable Gaming Operations Fund rather than the General Fund.

Running bingo, pickle cards, or a raffle without the Charitable Gaming Division's license under the applicable act invites Division investigators, who carry full law-enforcement power under § 9-1,101(4). Unlicensed equipment can also trigger prosecution under Nebraska's general gambling-device statutes, §§ 28-1101 to 28-1117, which run separately from, and on top of, any charitable gaming license revocation or civil tax assessment.