Ohio Charitable Bingo Licensing Under R.C. 2915.08

Chapter 2915 of the Ohio Revised Code gives the attorney general exclusive authority to license charitable bingo statewide: no city or county issues its own bingo permit. R.C. 2915.08(A)(1) requires a charitable organization that wants to run bingo to apply annually before January 1 for one or more of three license types: a Type I license for traditional bingo under R.C. 2915.01(O)(1), a Type II license to sell instant bingo or electronic instant bingo during a bingo session, and a Type III license to sell instant bingo or electronic instant bingo outside of a session. To qualify, the organization must have existed continuously as a charitable organization in Ohio for the two years before applying.

License fees are tiered. Organizations licensed before July 1, 2003 pay $200 for a Type I license covering 26 or more weeks of sessions a year; a first-time Type II or III license costs $500. Existing instant-bingo operators pay on a sliding scale tied to the prior year's gross profit: $500 up to $50,000 in profit, $1,250 plus one-quarter percent of profit up to $250,000, $2,250 plus one-half percent up to $500,000, $3,500 plus one percent up to $1,000,000, and $5,000 plus one percent above that. Organizations running fewer than 26 weeks pay a reduced fee the attorney general sets by rule.

Once licensed, R.C. 2915.09 caps a single bingo session at $6,000 in prizes, limits sessions to three per seven-day period (five for volunteer fire and rescue organizations), bars sessions between 2 a.m. and 10 a.m., and forbids paying bingo workers any wage, tip, or commission. Rent for premises a charitable organization leases is capped between $450 and $600 per session depending on the lessor. The license must be displayed conspicuously at the session.

Violating the receipts-use rule in R.C. 2915.09(A)(2), spending bingo proceeds outside the approved list of prizes, session rent, supplies, security, and charitable distributions, is a felony of the fourth degree. Violating the equipment, premises, or operator-compensation rules in divisions (A)(1), (A)(3), (B), (C)(1)-(11), or (D) is a minor misdemeanor for a first offense, rising to a first-degree misdemeanor on a repeat conviction of the same provision. Letting a minor play bingo under division (C)(12) is a first-degree misdemeanor, escalating to a fourth-degree felony on a second offense.