Bingo: Bingo bill took circuitous route through Capitol

This is a story about how laws are made in California. It's about poor kids in Los Angeles who lack tuition for parochial school, and disabled kids in Sacramento whose beloved therapy program is threatened. It's about casino tribes, Catholic priests, high school sports and blind people. Oh, and bingo.

Early 2008: Gil Cedillo is talking to John Moretta. Cedillo is a 54-year-old state senator from Los Angeles. Moretta is the 67-year-old monsignor of Church of the Resurrection Catholic Church in the east L.A. neighborhood of Boyle Heights. A lifelong resident of the Heights, Cedillo received his first Holy Communion at Resurrection.

Moretta tells Cedillo that the parish's bingo games are suffering, and that unless something is done, the parish will have to stop offering the hundred or so scholarships to the parish school that it extends to poor families.

Cedillo promises to see what he can do.

Feb. 20: Cedillo introduces Senate Bill 1328. The bill would remove the $250 top-prize limit on bingo games, and allow sites within an organization to link up electronically and participate in a single "remote caller" bingo game that could offer large prizes. That would let parishes or service clubs offer much more attractive bingo, and compete more effectively with Indian casinos.

Feb. 22: On the last day for new bills to be submitted, state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, introduces Senate Bill 1626. The measure is at the behest of small Sacramento-area charities that rely heavily on electronic bingo games. The machines are of questionable legality but generate around $5 million a year in revenue for the charities - and even more for the machines' manufacturers.

In its present form, SB 1626 makes minor technical changes to state bingo rules. But it's really a "spot" bill, meaning more substantive amendments will come later.

March 27: Cedillo amends SB 1328 to allow local governments to decide whether they want to allow remote caller bingo, and limits prizes in the remote games to no more than 37 percent of the gross receipts. The idea is to ensure nonprofit groups and charities will retain a substantial share of the games' revenue.

April 9: Steinberg amends SB 1626 to allow bingo to be played on "electronic replicas" of a bingo card. But the measure faces fierce opposition from Indian casino tribes, who are among the Capitol's biggest campaign contributors and therefore among the most influential of the Capitol's special interests.

The tribes say the bingo games are really slot machines, and violate their voter-approved exclusive right to operate slots in California. Tribal representatives warn that unless the games are banned, the state will be in violation of compacts it has with the tribes, and the tribes will stop payments of hundreds of millions of dollars in casino revenue they share with the state.

Steinberg drops the bill before it receives its first hearing.

April 16: Cedillo amends 1328 again, this time to require remote caller games to be played only with traditional paper cards, and ban the remote games from sites that offer electronic bingo.

The tribes, however, are not mollified. The bill is also opposed by small charities, many of them in the Sacramento area, that offer electronic bingo and would be frozen out of the remote caller games.

Like Steinberg's bill, SB 1328 dies without a hearing.

May 9: Under orders from Attorney General Jerry Brown, Justice Department agents notify 15 bingo parlors, including seven in the Sacramento area, that their bingo machines are illegal, and that they have 30 days to get rid of them or risk having them confiscated.

June 2: Several charities and bingo machine manufacturers seek an injunction in federal court in Sacramento, asking that the machines remain in operation until the courts can decide the issue of their legality.

June 18: Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, takes an 18-month-old bill that deals with jail overcrowding, and guts it. Battin, who is considered the Legislature's most ardent champion of casino tribes' interests, amends Senate Bill 864 to ban electronic bingo. The bill would set civil penalties of up to $10,000 per machine, and require courts to destroy seized machines.

Written by Steve Wiegand