- by Julie Tam, FOX 41 News
Bringing charitable gaming into the 21st century. Kentucky's government says that's the goal of a new proposal. But some people are concerned about more government regulation.
Some charitable organizations are a bit uneasy about possible changes, especially ones that would give the state government a bigger hand in their operations.
Whether it's bingo, pull tabs, or raffles, gamers would not see a difference in how they play. But nonprofit organizations would see a difference in how they operate.
Kentucky's Charitable Gaming commissioner, Henry Lackey, says it's a good thing: He has a plan that would solve their complaints. "The main complaint the Department of Charitable Gaming has heard in the last 15 years since it was founded is too much paperwork."
Adopting a computer system would allow volunteers to scan the bar codes on pull tabs, instead of keeping a bunch of paper records. It would eliminate the need to file quarterly reports because through the computer system, the state would receive all the information in real time.
"I think that can only be good for us," Linda Hemmer, bookkeeper at St. Gabriel the Archangel Church in Fern Creek, said.
"It sounds good, but I'm still not really sure," Debbie Nichols, Bingo Night chair for Hand in Hand Ministries.
Mixed feelings from nonprofits. But the commissioner says, they should know with so many cash transactions, legitimate charities are losing money to illegal operations using bootleg game cards and volunteers possibly embezzling money.
At a townhall meeting in Louisville Friday, the commissioner said, under the proposal the state also would regulate charitable gaming by allowing only four distributors of gaming supplies, not the current 22 who compete in a free market. "If they don't get the price down, they don't get the bid to be able to distribute product," Lackey said.
But some nonprofit groups are afraid less competition would still mean higher prices. "Maybe not at first, but I think a couple months down the road, they'll probably raise them," Nichols said. "The prices will go up."
If a bill is passed early next year to overhaul charitable gaming, the new measures would not go into full effect until at least 2011. No idea what the cost would be because bids are still out for companies who want to provide the computer system.
