What People are Saying
SB 1369 was hastily pushed through the legislature by powerful special interest groups, without public input, and will devastate community based, non-profits that rely on charitable bingo for funding. Here is what others have to say about SB 1369.
“It is going to be an immediate and devastating hit to all these charities.”
"Tomorrow we've got to figure out what we're going to do for the kids. We can't do it with bake sales and car washes."
- Topo Padilla, El Camino Athletic Boosters
"I'm here almost every night. It's totally wrong this is closing. This money is coming in for people who are suffering, who need help. Hello!"
- Tim Towne, Bingo Player,
Sacramento Bee, February 1, 2010
"I look at the revenue that we generated and it has to be pennies to the tribes. We were putting that money right back into the community. I don't see how that posed a threat to the tribes."
- Doug Bergman, United Cerebral Palsy,
Sacramento Bee, February 1, 2010
“A change in state laws is forcing charities to ditch the electronic machines. A move they say will take fundraising back to the Stone Age.”
- KCRA 3 January 31, 2010
“It’s nothing but greed on the part of the casinos. The greed they have is absolutely ridiculous when it’s robbing from charities.”
- FOX 40 viewer, January 31, 2010
“Charity Bingo advocates are close to pulling out of this legal battle, the deep and powerful pockets of Indian gaming too much to fight.”
- FOX 40 John Lobertini January 31, 2010
"It's a punch to the gut… It's very unfortunate for charities."
- Greg Peterson, Attorney, Los Angeles Times, December 10, 2009
“The games are required by law to be for charity only, and much of that charity money goes to organizations for the disabled and local schools like El Camino High School.
"There's not a lot of money out there," said head football coach Adam Reinking. "All the money that goes to these programs is generated through fundraising. Losing bingo essentially crushes a lot of programs."
- News 10 December 9, 2009
“SB 1369: This bill, by Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, originally dealt with
school
lunch programs. Then, in August, lawmakers gutted and amended it to help the Catholic Church boost
its bingo revenues, which are dwindling because of competition from Indian casino slot machines.
Then the tribes jumped in, and the church and tribes created a Faustian bargain bill that could hurt
smaller charities and represents the worst kind of closed-door sausage-making.
Schwarzenegger in 2003 pledged to veto any gut-and-amend bill that had not gone through the policy
committees of both chambers.
‘There is no such thing as democracy in the dark’ the governor said. If he still holds
true to
those words, the governor will veto SB 1369.”
- Fresno Bee, September 7, 2008
“The United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Sacramento, for example,
makes about 80 percent of its annual $250,000 income from bingo from the 75 machines it operates two
nights a week at a bingo hall in Carmichael.
Doug Bergman, president and CEO of the group, said the money pays for Saddle Pals, a
therapeutic horseback-riding program for kids with the disorder.
‘If I lost the electronic games, I would not be able to keep that bingo hall
operational,’ he said.
I can’t survive on paper and dauber games anymore. At best, I would break even, with no money
for
the Saddle Pals program.’”
- Sacramento Bee, August 20, 2008
“‘It kills my electronic and it kills my paper [bingo fundraiser operations],’
said David Gibbs,
executive director of the Concord Blue Devils, the acclaimed drum-and-bugle corps that nets about
$800,000 in bingo revenue each year - most of its fundraising revenue. ‘Across the state,
hundreds
of charities are going to be driven out of business.’”
- Contra Costa Times, August 27, 2008
“‘Taking away our electronic bingo is like taking away your child’s PlayStation
and handing him a
piece of paper and a pencil,’ said Heather Frank, executive director of the Society for the
Blind.
She said the group gets 10% of its annual revenue from a volunteer-operated bingo parlor in a
Sacramento suburb.”
- Los Angeles Times, August 28, 2008
“This issue is currently before a federal court which will soon render a decision regarding
the
legality of the electronic machines. There is no need to jump the gun with legislation that has
been amended at the last minute and rammed through the legislature that will have such a devastating
effect on these charities until the decision from the court has been deliverd. The Legislature has
had a standing practice of not getting in the middle of pending court decisions, and this issue
should be no different.”
- Assemblyman Roger Niello
“Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, said legislators should leave the debate to the state
attorney general and the courts instead of siding with tribal casinos.
‘This is David and Goliath,’ Kuehl said. ‘What’s wrong with these small
charities being able to
play these games and raise some money?’”
- San Jose Mercury News August 29, 2008
“After sailing through the Assembly on Wednesday, the measure was taken up in the Senate
yesterday, even though the upper house had not held a single public hearing on it.
'We can do better,’ scolded Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks."
- San Diego Union-Tribune, August 30, 2008
'Every session of the Legislature offers several examples of some big interest groups ganging up to kick the stuffing out of a smaller interest group. In this session, the premier example centers on the seemingly innocuous game of bingo.
The big guys in this instance are the state’s Indian tribes and the Catholic Church. They
have
joined forces to push through a bill that would outlaw electronic bingo machines, and in the process
cripple fundraising efforts for an untold number of small charities across California.'
- Sacramento Bee, August 24, 2008
"The tribes' casinos have a legal monopoly on slot machines, reap many billions of dollars from them every year and don't countenance any competition. Their dozens of lobbyists have worked out a deal to protect bigger bingo operations, such as those staged by Catholic churches, by allowing them to create electronic networks of games. But that leaves the smaller charities in the lurch, with some relatively small compensation payments, should the measure be enacted.
There is a double irony attached to the tribes' bill. The charities’ electronic bingo
games are
quite similar to those that tribes themselves operated before they gained their legal monopoly, and
one section of their bill could open the door to the tribes offering Internet-based gambling."
- Modesto Bee, August 29, 2008
"It (SB 1369) has the potential for creating not only new competitors for the California
State
Lottery and every other form of legal gaming in the state. It also could lead to the greatest
expansion of legal gambling in history."
- Professor I. Nelson Rose, a leading gaming law expert
"SB1369 is the quintessential example of stealth legislation and underscores what can go wrong when the legislature fails to adequately investigate all of a bill’s provisions and consequences, both intended and unintended, and bypasses the deliberative process."
"The effects of SB1369 extend far beyond this and its reaches are so widespread that its provision
could have a dire effect on, (1) the Governor’s ability to further negotiate with tribal governments
for contributions to the General Fund in mitigation of off-reservation impacts of Indian Gaming; (2)
the State Lottery; (3) Public Education financing; and, (4) the very charities that it purports to
benefit."
- Harlan W. Goodson, attorney at law and a leading gaming law expert
