(1) A licensed charitable organization shall be limited by the following:
(a) In the conduct of bingo, to one (1) session per day, two (2) sessions per week, for a period not to exceed five (5) consecutive hours in any day and not to exceed ten (10) total hours per week:

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Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 238.545

  • Action: includes all proceedings in any court of this state. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Bingo: means a specific game of chance in which participants use cards or paper sheets, or card-minding device representations thereof, divided into horizontal and vertical spaces, each of which is designated by a letter and a number, and prizes are awarded on the basis of the letters and numbers on the card conforming to a predetermined and preannounced configuration of letters and numbers selected at random. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • Charitable gaming: means bingo, charity game tickets, raffles, and charity fundraising events conducted for fundraising purposes by charitable organizations licensed and regulated under the provisions of this chapter. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • Charitable gaming facility: means the premises on which charitable gaming is conducted. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • Charitable organization: means a nonprofit entity organized for charitable, religious, educational, literary, civic, fraternal, or patriotic purposes. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
  • Charity fundraising event: means an activity of limited duration at which games of chance approved by the department are conducted, including bingo, raffles, charity game tickets, special limited charitable games, and wagering on prerecorded horse races, KRS Chapter 230 notwithstanding. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • Charity game ticket: means a game of chance using a folded or banded paper ticket, or a paper card with perforated break-open tabs, or electronic pulltab device representations thereof, the face of which is covered or otherwise hidden from view to conceal a number, letter, symbol, or set of numbers, letters, or symbols, some of which have been designated in advance as prize winners and shall include charity game tickets that utilize a seal card. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • City: includes town. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Department: means the Department of Charitable Gaming within the Public
    Protection Cabinet. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • Electronic pulltab device: means an electronic device used only for charitable gaming to facilitate the play of an electronic pulltab. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Raffle: means a game of chance in which a participant is required to purchase a ticket for a chance to win a prize, with the winner to be determined by a random drawing. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • Seal card: means a board or placard used in conjunction with charity game tickets, that contains a seal or seals which, when removed or opened, reveal predesignated winning numbers, letters, or symbols. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • Special limited charitable game: means roulette. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Year: means calendar year except as used in subsection (11) of this section and KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 238.505

1. No licensed charitable organization shall conduct bingo at more than one
(1) location during the same twenty-four (24) hour period;
2. No licensed charitable organization shall award prizes for bingo that exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) in fair market value per twenty- four (24) hour period, including the value of door prizes; and
3. No person under the age of eighteen (18) shall be permitted to purchase bingo supplies or play bingo unless he or she is playing for noncash prizes and is accompanied by a parent or legal guardian and only if the value of any noncash prize awarded does not exceed ten dollars ($10);
(b) 1. A licensed charitable organization may provide card-minding devices for use by players of bingo games.
2. If a licensed charitable organization offers card-minding devices for use by players, the devices shall be capable of being used in conjunction with bingo cards or paper sheets at all times.
3. The department shall have broad authority to define and regulate the use of card-minding devices and shall promulgate an administrative regulation concerning use and control of them;
(c) Charity game tickets shall be sold only at the address of the location designated on the license to conduct charitable gaming;
(d) Charity game tickets may be sold, with prior approval of the department:
1. At any authorized special charity fundraising event conducted by a licensed charitable organization at any off-site location; or
2. By a licensed charitable organization possessing a special limited charitable gaming license at any off-site location; and
(e) An automated charity game ticket dispenser may be utilized by a licensed charitable organization, with the prior approval of the department, only at the address of the location designated on the license to conduct charitable gaming. The department shall promulgate administrative regulations regulating the use and control of approved automated charity game ticket dispensers.
(2) (a) No prize for an individual charity game ticket shall exceed five hundred ninety-nine dollars ($599) in value, not including the value of cumulative or carryover prizes awarded in seal card games.
(b) Cumulative or carryover prizes in seal card games shall not exceed two thousand four hundred dollars ($2,400).
(c) Information concerning rules of the particular game and prizes that are to be
awarded in excess of fifty dollars ($50) in each separate package or series of packages with the same serial number and all rules governing the handling of cumulative or carryover prizes in seal card games shall be posted prominently in an area where charity game tickets are sold. A legible poster that lists prizes to be awarded, and on which prizes actually awarded are posted at the completion of the sale of each separate package shall satisfy this requirement.
(d) Any unclaimed money or prize shall return to the charitable organization.
(e) No paper charity game ticket shall be sold in the Commonwealth of Kentucky that does not conform to the standards for opacity, randomization, minimum information, winner protection, color, and cutting established by the department.
(f) No electronic pulltab device representation of a charity game ticket shall be sold in the Commonwealth of Kentucky that does not conform to the construction standards set forth in an administrative regulation promulgated by the department. Electronic pulltab devices shall only be used for charitable gaming.
(g) No person under the age of eighteen (18) shall be permitted to purchase, or open in any manner, a charity game ticket.
(3) (a) Tickets for a raffle shall be sold separately, and each ticket shall constitute a separate and equal chance to win.
(b) All raffle tickets shall be sold for the price stated on the ticket, and no person shall be required to purchase more than one (1) ticket or to pay for anything other than a ticket to enter a raffle.
(c) Raffle tickets and tickets for charity fundraising raffle games approved by the department which are offered exclusively at charity fundraising events and special limited charity fundraising events are not required to be sold separately and may be sold at discounted package rates.
(d) Raffle tickets shall have a unique identifier on each ticket.
(e) Winners shall be drawn at random at a date, time, and place announced in advance or printed on the ticket.
(f) All prizes for a raffle shall be identified in advance of the drawing and all prizes identified shall be awarded.
(4) With respect to charity fundraising events, a licensed charitable organization shall be limited as follows:
(a) No licensed charitable organization shall conduct a charity fundraising event or a special limited charity fundraising event unless they have a license for the respective event issued by the department;
(b) No special license shall be required for any wheel game, such as a cake wheel, that awards only noncash prizes the value of which does not exceed one hundred dollars ($100);
(c) The department may grant approval for a licensed charitable organization to play bingo games at a charity fundraising event. Cash prizes for bingo games
played during a charity fundraising event may not exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) for the entire event. No person under the age of eighteen (18) shall be permitted to play bingo at a charity fundraising event unless accompanied by a parent or legal guardian;
(d) The department may grant approval for a licensed charitable organization to play special limited charitable games at a charity fundraising event authorized under this section. The department shall not grant approval for the playing of special limited charitable games under the provisions of a charity fundraising event license unless the proposed event meets the definition of a charity fundraising event held for community, social, or entertainment purposes apart from charitable gaming in accordance with KRS § 238.505(8);
(e) Except for state, county, city fairs, and special limited charity fundraising events, a charity fundraising event license issued under this section shall not exceed seventy-two (72) consecutive hours. A licensed charitable organization shall not be eligible for more than eight (8) total charity fundraising event licenses per year, including two (2) special limited charity fundraising event licenses. No person under eighteen (18) years of age shall be allowed to play or conduct any special limited charitable game. The department shall have broad authority to regulate the conduct of special limited charity fundraising events in accordance with the provisions of KRS § 238.547; and
(f) Charity fundraising events may be held:
1. On or in the premises of a licensed charitable organization;
2. In a licensed charitable gaming facility, subject to restrictions contained in KRS § 238.555(7); or
3. At an unlicensed facility which shall be subject to the requirements stipulated in KRS § 238.555(3), and subject to the restrictions contained in KRS § 238.547(2).
(5) Presentation of false, fraudulent, or altered identification by a minor shall be an affirmative defense in any disciplinary action or prosecution that may result from a violation of age restrictions contained in this section, if the appearance and character of the minor were such that his or her age could not be reasonably ascertained by other means.
Effective: June 27, 2019
History: Amended 2019 Ky. Acts ch. 62, sec. 1, effective June 27, 2019. — Amended
2015 Ky. Acts ch. 45, sec. 3, effective June 24, 2015; and ch. 59, sec. 4, effective June 24, 2015. — Amended 2010 Ky. Acts ch. 24, sec. 543, effective July 15, 2010. — Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 374, sec. 11, effective July 14, 2000. — Amended 1998
Ky. Acts ch. 232, sec. 9, effective April 1, 1998. — Amended 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 331, sec. 9, effective April 10, 1996. — Created 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 66, sec. 10, effective March 16, 1994.