The proceeds from both charitable bingo games were reinvested into their communities for causes such as public and private schools, youth sports, children’s charities as well as other community needs, such as putting together holiday baskets or helping with medical care for the less fortunate. Over the past several years, those contributions have been getting smaller.
Among the challenges charitable bingo games have weathered locally include a difficult economy, an aging clientele, competition from three area racinos and the casinos in Cincinnati and southeastern Indiana, the Ohio Lottery, and various types of online gaming. Without the instant bingo pull tab games that are sold during the sit-down bingo games, some of the organizations would have found themselves in deficits.
Kate Hanson, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, said statewide, bingo net profits have dropped by nearly half in the past 10 years.
“Bingo hit a peak a few years ago but it has been trending down,” she said.
According to state records, charitable bingo generated gross revenues of about $1.4 billion and recorded net profits of more than $196 million statewide in 2005. By the end of 2014, gross revenues have dropped to just more than $748.2 million and net profits of about $92.5 million.
In 2013, the gross revenue was $796.7 million with net profits listed at just more than $96.8 million; and in 2012, the gross revenue was listed at nearly $855.39 million with a net profit reported at just more than $106.1 million.
Hanson said there has not been a hard study on how the racinos and casinos have affected the charitable bingo games in the state, even though laws were changed to allow the traditional, sit-down bingo game to sell instant bingo tickets to generate more revenue for those organizations. She said, anecdotally, some factors affecting local bingo games include the sweepstakes, the state lottery, the state smoking ban as well as the racinos and casinos.
Some local bingo games squeezed out
John Gebhart, who ran the bingo game on Sunday and Monday evenings at the VFW post for the past 10 years, has said attendance had been declining for the past few years and as a result revenues have also been going down.
He said before the racinos opened in early 2014, about 160 people attended the bingo sessions. Since then, attendance dropped to nearly 120 with the mean age of between 50 to 60 years old.
In 2014, the VFW bingo game reported to the Attorney General’s office that it generated gross revenues of $344,057 in Type I bingo or traditional bingo games with expenses of $488,059 resulting in a loss of $144,002. However, the VFW also generated gross revenues of nearly $1.6 million in Type II bingo or instant bingo, with expenses of nearly $1.28 million resulting in net profit of $319,149. When the totals are combined, the overall gross revenues were reported at just more than $1.94 million, expenses of just more than $1.76 million resulting in a net profit of $175, 147.
That was down from 2013 where the VFW bingo game reported gross revenues of more than $2.22 million in combined Type I and II bingo; combined expenses of just more than $2 million; and a combined net profit of $220,318, according to the Attorney General’s records.
Gebhart said another aspect of the decline was a lack of younger players to replace the aging one, as glitz and glamour of the racinos are more enticing to a younger crowd than playing bingo with an older relative or friend.
“There is only so many people and only so much money that can be spent at a bingo game,” he said. “It became a math problem. We were not doing well and summer was horrible for us.”
The bingo game had operated at the VFW Social Hall for about 30 years, he said.
Gebhart estimated that during the busiest time of the year for bingo games, during tax season, that the VFW game was down between 40 to 45 percent from 2014.
He said it cost between $4,500 and $5,000 just to open the doors, cover the payouts, supplies and other overhead expenses. Gebhart said if the organization was going to stay true to its charitable purpose, and to keep the charity going open for as long as possible, it was decided to end the bingo operation at the end of September.
For many years the charity donated thousands of dollars for community organizations, but now those donations have been reduced to hundreds of dollars for specific classroom items.
“The business wasn’t strong enough to carry out its charitable purpose,” he said. “I think the other bingos will do better” with the closing of the VFW bingo game.
Gebhart said it has not been determined if the bingo game will resume or even if it will renew its annual license.
The sudden closing threw a lot of regular players off guard and have led them to other bingo games.
Cheryl Creager of Middletown, who also plays bingo at Conover Hall in Franklin where the proceeds benefit the Society of Handicapped Citizens of Warren County, used to play bingo at the VFW a lot because it was close to her home.
“I was shocked because I was there the week before they closed,” Creager said. “I skipped a week then it closed. I thought they had a pretty good business… They never said anything other than that there were things to be repaired, then it closed. There was no announcement it was closing down.”
Randol Thompson of the Carlisle Lions Club said the weekly bingo game that was a fixture in the community since 1971 had to stop in the past few weeks because attendance dropped to less than two dozen players.
Thompson said some nights they made $200 to $300 and after expenses they might make $12 for the charity. He said the bingo game has not been able to pay its rent to use the club hall for months and said it was doubtful if they will renew their state bingo license at the end of the year.
“We noticed that little by little, the people coming were getting fewer,” he said. “It didn’t take much to put us in the hole.”
Thompson believes that people will go to the area racinos and take the $20 or $30 to win a larger amount of money than they would at the Lion’s Club.
He said the local game had a family atmosphere and was a social gathering with virtually the same people coming each week and sometimes they would bring a relative with them.
“We have enough money in the bingo fund to do Christmas baskets this year,” Thompson said. “We’re looking for other fund-raisers to do our charity work other than our two fish frys and at Railroad Days (a community festival).”
In 2014, the Carlisle Lions bingo game generated gross revenues of $31,569; reported $29,935 in expenses; earning a net profit of $1,633, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
That was down from 2013 where the game reported $35,413 in gross revenues; expenses of $30,256; and leaving a net profit of $5,157, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Unlike the VFW bingo game, the Carlisle Lion’s Club did not have a Type II license and could not sell instant bingo tickets to raise additional revenues.
Some bingo games are managing to survive
At the Conover Hall bingo game in Franklin, Adam Wilcutt who runs the game, said he was not aware of the recent closings of the VFW and Carlisle Lion’s Club bingo games.
However, Wilcutt said he has no way to measure if the area racinos and casinos have had any impact on the game that benefits the Society of Handicapped Children of Warren County and has been in operation for about 25 years and draws players from several counties and from Indiana.
“It seems like we are catching some people who used to play at bingo games that closed,” he said. “In general, fewer people are playing bingo because people are getting older.”
Wilcutt said the game averages more than 120 players twice a week. He said if the racinos and casinos had an advantage, it would be because they operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Hopefully, it will maintain itself, and if it maintains itself, we’ll be happy,” he said.
Barb VanAllen of Miamisburg said she comes to Conover almost every time they have a game.
“I’m here for the enjoyment,” she said. “It’s my night out.”
Van Allen, who has been playing in Franklin for the past three years, said most of the people are regulars, and it’s almost like having a family to her.
“It’s very pleasant and homey,” she said.
Creager of Middletown, and Ola Mae Hall of Hamilton, are regulars at Conover Hall.
“This is our favorite place,” Hall said.
Creager, who also played at the VFW in Middletown, said she comes to the bingo game for relaxation.
Randy Turner of Roosevelt Boulevard Bingo in Middletown said he has not seen an increase in players since the bingo game closed at the VFW. Turner said he was “very surprised” when he heard about the VFW bingo closing because “it had been around for a very long time.”
The Roosevelt Boulevard Bingo has been operating for 18 years as a traditional sit-down bingo with instant bingo as well. It average between 130 and 140 players twice a week and the bingo proceeds go to help run programs for Butler County people with disabilities.
Turner said there hasn’t been an increase in the bingo business in years and area racinos and casinos have hurt their business.
In Hamilton, Richard Holzberger, a parishioner and a former Butler County sheriff, has been providing security at the bingo games at St. Julie Billiart Catholic Church for the past 35 years and St. Peter in Chains Catholic Church for the past 25 years. The bingo games are staffed by volunteers and benefit the parochial school and parishes.
He said the St. Julie Billiart bingo game averages between 150 and 22o players a week, drawing people from Midddletown, West Carrollton, Clermont County and northern Hamilton County as well as Hamilton.
“When the racinos and casinos first came in, we lost 50 to 60 per week for several months, but then they came back,” Holzberger said. “They’re loyal to us, but some still go to the racino.”
At the bingo game at St. Peter in Chains, he said that averages between 110 to 120 players. Holzberger said that dropped off from about 170 players before the casinos and racinos opened. He said that game never really recovered as some of those people stayed with the casinos.
“Overall, we’re back to the numbers that are comparable to 10 years ago,” Holzberger said.
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