Bingo: Bingo's number is up
The smoking ban in Minnesota is snuffing out bingo halls.
The latest casualty is the Cottage Grove bingo hall, which will close for good at the end of the night Friday.
"Since Oct. 1, we have been in the red every single month," said Mary Perren, gambling and bingo hall manager for the Cottage Grove Athletic Association.
"Our bingo players are smokers, and there is a large percentage of them that we have not seen since the ban," she said.
Across the metro area, bingo hall managers say they are seeing a drop in revenue or bingo halls closing because of smoking bans. In 2005, smoke-free ordinances in a handful of communities went into effect, and a year later, St. Paul imposed its own ban. The statewide ban began Oct. 1.
"I don't know if they realized how much it would hurt (charities bingo), although everyone tried to tell them," said Laurie Gluesing, whose CLIMB Theatre organization ran the now-defunct Bingo Plus in Inver Grove Heights.
"We knew that when (the ban) came, it would be the final nail for bingo halls," she said.
In Bloomington, South Town Bingo closed less than six months
after smoking was banned in bars. In St. Paul, at least two bingo halls --
Hillcrest Bingo and Midway Bingo -- closed because of problems related to the smoking ban, according to several bingo hall managers.
Meanwhile, bingo halls still in business are seeing fewer customers.
At the Roseville Bingo Hall, which raises money for a youth hockey
group and a speed-skating club, attendance is down about 32 percent
compared with this time last year.
Charitable gambling, which includes bingo and pull-tab sales,
is a $1.2 billion industry in Minnesota; in fiscal 2007, about $64.7
million came from bingo.
Charitable gambling officials say the demise of bingo halls
could spell trouble for communities and organizations that rely on
funding from the proceeds. In Cottage Grove, for example, Perren said
money raised from the bingo hall helped pay for projects such as
building batting cages and installing sprinkler systems at ball fields.
Still, some bingo operators believe customers will return once they are used to the ban.
"I heard from so many people who said they wouldn't come back,
but they're slowly trickling back," said Sylvia Lund, gambling manager
for Tapemark Charity. The organization runs the West St. Paul Bingo
Palace, with proceeds benefiting people who have learning and
developmental disabilities. Lund said attendance at Bingo Palace is up -- but it might not be all good news.
"I think maybe because other bingo halls have closed we're picking up a few people," she said. Written by Nancy Yang www.twincities.com
