Bingo: Volunteer groups lose bingo hall

Sixteen local organizations are out of luck now that the last numbers were called Saturday night and the doors are closed at the Diamond Bingo hall.

Alpha Delta Kappa Ontario Nu has been holding bingos there for the last eight years, and the money they raised helped 11 local charities. Representative Fran Winslow says from March until May they donated close to $192,000 back into the community from holding bingos. Some of the organizations they help support every year include Shelter House, cancer research, the Boys and Girls Club and the Faye Peterson Transition House.

Winslow said the group of retired teachers will no longer be able to hold the fundraising events with the Diamond Bingo hall closing its doors.

Winslow blames the closure on the Alcohol and Gaming Control Commission of Ontario for taking too long to approve a licence for the Neebing Minor Hockey Association to operate the bingo hall.

Some of the organizations will be moving to Thunder Bay Community Bingo but Winslow says that will mean less fundraising events for the 64 charities that already depend on that hall.

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