Compromise reached on charity gaming bill
NASHVILLE (AP) — Charities could not hire professional companies to run their fund-raising raffles under a compromise agreed to Monday by the governor and lawmakers.
The agreement comes after several weeks of discord over three bills to allow nonprofit charities to hold gambling fund-raisers, starting this year.
Gov. Phil Bredesen, along with several lawmakers and Secretary of State Riley Darnell — whose office would regulate the entire process — had worried that allowing companies other than the charities themselves to run the games might lead to corruption.
Tennessee has a sordid history of state-sanctioned gambling.
Before the events were declared unconstitutional in 1989, professional bingo parlor operators raked in thousands of dollars a day to put on fund-raising events for charities. The operators gave only a small share to the nonprofit groups.
Worries that the current bill would create a similar situation were alleviated after the bills’ sponsors met with the governor’s staff Monday, said Sen. Jim Kyle, who is sponsoring the measures in that chamber.
“What we’re doing now is sending a strong message that while the constitution allows for charitable gaming events, there are going to be strict controls with harsh penalties for people who violate the law,” Kyle said. “That’s what the people of Tennessee want.”
The compromise forbids third-party operators and mandates a percentage of the raffle’s gross proceeds go to charitable purposes, Kyle said. The percentage is still undetermined.
Bredesen has promised to provide the money to implement the measure, Kyle said. The governor’s spokeswoman, Lydia Lenker, said she did not know the amount Bredesen plans to appropriate.
“The governor, Sen. Kyle and (House sponsor) Rep. (Harry) Tindell share a very strong desire to draft a tight bill to make sure the system is not abused,” Lenker said. “No one wants to see history repeat itself.”
Originally, the bills’ sponsors presented the first bill — which set up the approval process for charities — by itself in order to get organizations approved to hold events this year.
The oversight and regulatory portions of the plan were in the second and third bills because they required state money and would thus take longer to move through the legislative process.
But the three-pronged effort concerned some lawmakers who worried about a lack of enforcement in the approach. The governor’s funding commitment makes it possible to combine the three bills into one.
Among the other agreed upon changes, the bill will restrict the number of events that can be held “over a period of time” as part of an effort to avoid one venue playing host to charity fund-raisers every day, Kyle said.
The group also agreed to charge organizations a “sliding fee” based on the size of their events, and to restrict all employees of the secretary of state’s office from participating in any game of chance, he said.
Darnell, who did not attend Monday’s meeting because of a previous commitment, said later that he hadn’t seen the changes but spoke to several people about them.
“Apparently they’re going to resolve a number of the concerns that we’ve expressed,” he said. “I’m feeling pretty good about the way we’re moving on the legislation.”
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Tennessee General Assembly: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us
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