Bingo Enabling Act section 2001.551, titled “Unlawful Bingo; Offense,” details three exceptions to rules guiding bingo conductors:

  • Games conducted in private homes are legal if played by fewer than 15 people
  • Games can be played on behalf of an “organization of individuals 60 years or over,” including residents of a nursing or retirement home or a Veterans Administration hospital, when it’s “solely for the purpose of amusement and recreation of its members, residents or patients … [and] where the prizes awarded … are of nominal value”
  • The media-sponsored exception permits games played for “promotional or advertising purposes”

    This article appears in August 2 • 2002.

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