Ohio Code 2915.093 – Charitable organization conducting instant bingo other than at bingo session at location where primary activity is instant bingo
(A) As used in this section, “retail income from all commercial activity” means the income that a person receives from the provision of goods, services, or activities that are provided at the location where instant bingo other than at a bingo session is conducted, including the sale of instant bingo tickets. A religious organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under subsection 501(a) and described in subsection 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, at not more than one location at which it conducts its charitable programs, may include donations from its members and guests as retail income.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 2915.093
- Bingo: means either of the following:
(1) A game with all of the following characteristics:
(a) The participants use bingo cards or sheets, including paper formats and electronic representation or image formats, that are divided into twenty-five spaces arranged in five horizontal and five vertical rows of spaces, with each space, except the central space, being designated by a combination of a letter and a number and with the central space being designated as a free space. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Bingo session: means a period that includes both of the following:
(1) Not to exceed five continuous hours for the conduct of one or more games described in division (O)(1) of this section, instant bingo, and electronic instant bingo;
(2) A period for the conduct of instant bingo and electronic instant bingo for not more than two hours before and not more than two hours after the period described in division (S)(1) of this section. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Charitable instant bingo organization: means an organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under subsection 501(a) and described in subsection 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is a charitable organization as defined in this section. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Conduct: means to back, promote, organize, manage, carry on, sponsor, or prepare for the operation of bingo or a game of chance, a scheme of chance, or a sweepstakes. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Deal: means a single game of instant bingo tickets, or a single game of electronic instant bingo tickets, all with the same serial number. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Enter: means the act by which a person becomes eligible to receive any prize offered in a sweepstakes. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Expenses: means the reasonable amount of gross profit actually expended for all of the following:
(1) The purchase or lease of bingo supplies;
(2) The annual license fee required under section 2915. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Gross profit: means gross receipts minus the amount actually expended for the payment of prize awards. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Gross receipts: means all money or assets, including admission fees, that a person receives from bingo without the deduction of any amounts for prizes paid out or for the expenses of conducting bingo. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Instant bingo: means a form of bingo that shall use folded or banded tickets or paper cards with perforated break-open tabs, a face of which is covered or otherwise hidden from view to conceal a number, letter, or symbol, or set of numbers, letters, or symbols, some of which have been designated in advance as prize winners, and may also include games in which some winners are determined by the random selection of one or more bingo numbers by the use of a seal card or bingo blower. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Internal Revenue Code: means the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986" 100 Stat. See Ohio Code 2915.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Religious organization: means any church, body of communicants, or group that is not organized or operated for profit and that gathers in common membership for regular worship and religious observances. See Ohio Code 2915.01
(B)(1) If a charitable instant bingo organization conducts instant bingo other than at a bingo session under a type III license issued under section 2915.08 of the Revised Code, the charitable instant bingo organization shall enter into a written contract with the owner or lessor of the location at which the instant bingo is conducted to allow the owner or lessor to assist in the conduct of instant bingo other than at a bingo session, identify each location where the instant bingo other than at a bingo session is being conducted, and identify the owner or lessor of each location.
(2) A charitable instant bingo organization that conducts instant bingo other than at a bingo session under a type III license issued under section 2915.08 of the Revised Code is not required to enter into a written contract with the owner or lessor of the location at which the instant bingo is conducted, provided that the owner or lessor is not assisting in the conduct of the instant bingo other than at a bingo session and provided that the conduct of the instant bingo other than at a bingo session at that location is not more than five days per calendar year and not more than ten hours per day.
(C) Except as provided in division (F) of this section, no charitable instant bingo organization shall conduct instant bingo other than at a bingo session at a location where the primary source of retail income from all commercial activity at that location is the sale of instant bingo tickets.
(D) The owner or lessor of a location that enters into a contract pursuant to division (B) of this section shall pay the full gross profit to the charitable instant bingo organization, in return for the deal of instant bingo tickets. The owner or lessor may retain the money that the owner or lessor receives for selling the instant bingo tickets, provided, however, that after the deal has been sold, the owner or lessor shall pay to the charitable instant bingo organization the value of any unredeemed instant bingo prizes remaining in the deal of instant bingo tickets.
The charitable instant bingo organization shall pay six per cent of the total gross receipts of any deal of instant bingo tickets for the purpose of reimbursing the owner or lessor for expenses described in this division.
As used in this division, “expenses” means those items provided for in divisions (GG)(4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (12), and (13) of section 2915.01 of the Revised Code and that percentage of the owner’s or lessor’s rent for the location where instant bingo is conducted. “Expenses,” in the aggregate, shall not exceed six per cent of the total gross receipts of any deal of instant bingo tickets.
As used in this division, “full gross profit” means the amount by which the total receipts of all instant bingo tickets, if the deal had been sold in full, exceeds the amount that would be paid out if all prizes were redeemed.
(E) A charitable instant bingo organization shall provide the attorney general with all of the following information:
(1) That the charitable instant bingo organization has terminated a contract entered into pursuant to division (B) of this section with an owner or lessor of a location;
(2) That the charitable instant bingo organization has entered into a written contract pursuant to division (B) of this section with a new owner or lessor of a location;
(3) That the charitable instant bingo organization is aware of conduct by the owner or lessor of a location at which instant bingo is conducted that is in violation of this chapter.
(F) Division (C) of this section does not apply to a volunteer firefighter’s organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under subsection 501(a) and described in subsection 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, that conducts instant bingo other than at a bingo session on the premises where the organization conducts firefighter training, that has conducted instant bingo continuously for at least five years prior to July 1, 2003, and that, during each of those five years, had gross receipts of at least one million five hundred thousand dollars.
Last updated August 4, 2021 at 4:33 PM