§ 67-7709 — ACCOUNTING AND USE OF BINGO PROCEEDS

(1) (a) All funds received in connection with a bingo game required to be licensed pursuant to this chapter and the rules of the state lottery commission shall be placed in a separate bank account that is in the name of and controlled by the charitable or nonprofit organization. No funds may be disbursed from this account except the charitable or nonprofit organization may expend proceeds for prizes, advertising, rent including, but not limited to, renting space, chairs, tables, equipment and electronic bingo devices, utilities, the purchase of supplies and equipment in playing bingo, taxes and license fees related to bingo, the payment of compensation, and for the purposes set forth below for the remaining proceeds.
(b) Funds from bingo accounts must be withdrawn by preprinted, consecutively numbered checks or withdrawal slips, signed by an authorized representative of the licensed authorized organization and made payable to a person. A check or withdrawal slip shall not be made payable to "cash," "bearer" or a fictitious payee. The nature of the payment made shall be noted on the face of the check or withdrawal slip. Checks for the bingo account shall be imprinted with the words "bingo account" and shall contain the organization’s bingo license name on the face of each check. A licensed authorized organization shall keep and account for all checks and withdrawal slips, including voided checks and withdrawal slips. Electronic transfers from the bingo account may be used for payments made to another governmental agency.
(c) Any proceeds available in a bingo account after payment of the expenses set forth in paragraph (1)(a) of this subsection shall inure to the charitable or nonprofit organization to be used for religious, charitable, civic, scientific testing, public safety, literary or educational purposes or for purchasing, constructing, maintaining, operating or using equipment or land, or a building or improvements thereto, owned, leased or rented by and for the charitable or nonprofit organization and used for civic purposes or made available by the charitable or nonprofit organization for use by the general public from time to time, or to foster amateur sports competition, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, provided that no proceeds shall be used or expended directly or indirectly to compensate officers or directors. The licensed bingo operation must maintain records for five (5) years on forms prescribed by the commission or pursuant to rules prescribed by the commission showing the charitable activities to which the proceeds described in this paragraph are applied. No employees of the charitable or nonprofit organization may be compensated from bingo proceeds except as provided in this subsection.
(d) (i) All gross revenues received from bingo games by a charitable or nonprofit organization must be disbursed in the following manner, unless otherwise provided in section 67-7708, Idaho Code: not less than twenty percent (20%) of gross revenues shall be used for charitable purposes enumerated in this subsection, and a maximum of eighteen percent (18%) of the gross revenues may be used for administrative expenses associated with the charitable bingo game. An organization requesting an exemption from the disbursement percentages provided in this paragraph for administrative costs shall request such an exemption from the state lottery commission.
(ii) Two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or one-tenth of one percent (.1%) of annual gross revenues, as per the previous year’s annual bingo report whichever is greater may be paid as wages for the conduct of any one (1) bingo session. Such wages shall be paid on an hourly basis, shall be directly related to the preparation, conduct of and cleaning following a bingo session, and shall be paid out of the organization’s separate bank account unless the director of lottery security has given prior written permission to pay wages out of another account. Such wages shall be part of the eighteen percent (18%) gross revenues used for administrative expenses.
(2) Any charitable or nonprofit organization conducting bingo games pursuant to this chapter shall prepare a statement at the close of its license year and shall file such statement with the state lottery. The statement shall be prepared on a form prescribed by the lottery commission and shall include, at a minimum, the following information:
(a) The number of bingo sessions conducted or sponsored by the licensed organization;
(b) The location and date at which each bingo session was conducted;
(c) The gross revenues of each bingo session;
(d) The fair market value of any prize given at each bingo session;
(e) The number of individual players participating in each session;
(f) The number of cards played in each session;
(g) The amount paid in prizes at each session;
(h) The amount paid to the charitable or nonprofit organization;
(i) All disbursements from bingo revenue and the purpose of those disbursements must be documented on a general ledger and submitted with the annual bingo report to the Idaho lottery commission; and
(j) An accounting of all gross revenues and the disbursements required by statute and rule of the state lottery commission must be retained in records with the organization, including the date of each transaction and the name and address of each payee for all prize payments in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) and the disbursements of funds to charitable activities, including the identity of the charity and/or purpose and use of the disbursements by the charity. Such records shall be retained for a period of five (5) years.
(3) Any organization required to be licensed to conduct bingo operations under the provisions of this chapter shall use only nonreusable colored bingo paper or electronic bingo paper so that all sales may be tracked. The nonreusable colored paper must have a series and serial number on each card. At the conclusion of each session, all organizations using nonreusable bingo paper must track their bingo sales per session by recording the series and serial numbers of all paper sold, damaged, donated or used for promotion in that session. Each such organization shall keep a ledger of the numbers of all such papers used during each session. All paper must be tracked as either sold, damaged, donated, used for promotion, or omitted from the original distributor or manufacturer. Paper tracking ledgers and invoices from the distributor or manufacturer for nonrefundable colored bingo paper must be kept with the permanent records for that bingo operation.
(4) Any person who shall willfully or knowingly furnish, supply or otherwise give false information in any statement filed pursuant to this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(5) All financial books, papers, records and documents of an organization shall be kept as determined by rule of the state lottery and shall be open to inspection by the county sheriff of the county, or the chief of police of the city, or the prosecuting attorney of the county where the bingo game was held, or the attorney general or the state lottery at reasonable times and during reasonable hours.
(6) Every charitable or nonprofit organization whose annual gross revenues exceed two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) from the operation of bingo games shall provide the state lottery with a copy of an annual audit of the bingo operation. The audit shall be performed by an independent certified public accountant who is licensed in the state of Idaho and who meets peer review requirements set forth by the Idaho state board of accountancy. The audit shall be submitted to the Idaho state lottery within ninety (90) days after the end of the license year.

Legislative History

[(67-7709) 67-7705, added 1993, ch. 391, sec. 2, p. 1450; am. 1994, ch. 281, sec. 3, p. 876; am. and redesig. 1995, ch. 350, sec. 8, p. 1156; am. 1996, ch. 382, sec. 5, p. 1298; am. 2000, ch. 340, sec. 7, p. 1140; am. 2003, ch. 301, sec. 2, p. 828; am. 2003, ch. 314, sec. 1, p. 858; am. 2005, ch. 259, sec. 2, p. 797; am. 2008, ch. 43, sec. 2, p. 102; am. 2012, ch. 259, sec. 1, p. 719; am. 2013, ch. 251, sec. 7, p. 615.]