Cathedral City Municipal Code Ch. 11.13 Bingo Permits

The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the issuance of permits under which certain bingo games may be allowed which would otherwise be unlawful under state law. This chapter is enacted pursuant to the authority of Section 19 of Article IV of the State Constitution and Section 326.5 of the Penal Code. The provisions in this chapter shall be construed strictly in accordance with said authority, and in the event of any apparent conflict or inconsistency, the provisions in this chapter shall be given only such interpretation as will render them compatible with Penal Code Section 326.5 and other applicable provisions of state law.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

For the purposes of this chapter, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

"Bingo"

is defined in Penal Code Section 326.5 as meaning a game of chance in which prizes are awarded on the basis of designated numbers or symbols on a card which conform to numbers or symbols selected at random.

"Minors"

are all persons under eighteen years of age, as specified in Civil Code Section 25.

"Nonprofit organization"

means an organization within the purview of Penal Code Section 326.5, which is a mobile home park association, a senior citizens organization, or an organization exempted from the payment of the bank and corporation tax by Sections 23701a, 23701b, 23701d, 23701e, 23701f, 23701g, and 23701 l of the Revenue and Taxation Code.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

Pursuant to and in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the city manager may issue permits to nonprofit organizations to conduct bingo games.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

The provisions of Chapter 11.12 relating to prohibition of gambling games not otherwise prohibited under state law shall not be deemed applicable to any bingo games conducted under valid permits issued under this chapter.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

An application fee in an amount established by resolution of the city council shall be paid by each applicant organization upon filing of an application for a bingo permit. If a permit is issued pursuant to that application, the fee paid shall constitute the license fee for the time remaining in the current licensing period. If an application for a permit is denied, one-half of the application fee shall be refunded to the organization. Renewal application shall be filed no later than July 1st of each year. If a renewal application is not timely filed, and the organization continues to conduct bingo games after July 1st without a current fee being paid, the renewal fee shall also require a late renewal penalty in the amount of ten percent of the license fee due on the first day of the month following the due date thereof and ten percent on the first day of each month thereafter while the fee remains unpaid; provided, that the amount of the penalty to be added shall in no event exceed fifty percent of the amount of the license fee. An additional fee of one percent of the monthly gross receipts over five thousand dollars derived from bingo games shall be paid by the permittee monthly to the city, such amount to be paid not later than the fifteenth day of the immediately ensuing month. The city manager is authorized to adopt regulations, subject to city council approval, governing financial accountability and other aspects of bingo operations. Each licensee shall be required to comply fully with all such regulations.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982; Ord. 296 § 1, 1990; Ord. 378 § 2, 1993)

A. Applications for bingo permits shall be written, signed and verified under penalty of perjury, and shall be filed with the city manager in such form as the city manager prescribes. Each application for permit or renewal shall contain at least the following information and showings:

1. The name and address of applicant;

2. The dates, hours, and location where the bingo games will be operated;

3. The name or names of the person or persons who will have the management or supervision of the games;

4. Whether food and beverages will be available;

5. Such other reasonable information as the city manager may require as to the identity or character of the applicant, manager, and members of applicant who will operate the games;

6. A copy of the tax exempt status determination issued by the State Franchise Board to the applicant organization showing that the applicant organization is, per subsection C of Section 11.13.020, exempt under the appropriate section of the Revenue and Taxation Code, and that the exemption still exists at the time of application submittal;

7. Proof that the applicant organization owns or leases or has had the use of the property where the bingo games will be conducted donated to the organization, and that the property is used by such organization for an office or for performance of the purposes for which the organization is organized, in addition to, and not solely for, its bingo operation. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require that the property owned or leased by or whose use is donated to the organization be used or leased exclusively by or donated exclusively to such organization.

B. No application for a permit renewal shall be accepted unless, in addition to the above information, there is also submitted therewith a full and accurate accounting record, certified under penalty of perjury by the permittee's accountant or a member of the permittee's management deemed by the city manager to be authorized and appropriate to make the certification, setting forth in detail the income and expenses received and disbursed in connection with the permittee's operation, conduct, promotion, supervision and any other phase of bingo game activities carried on under the existing or preceding permit. Such a certified accounting record may also be required by the city manager in cases where the application is not for a "renewal" but is for a new permit to be issued to an applicant organization which at any previous time held a permit issued under this chapter.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982; Ord. 296 § 2, 1990)

Upon receipt of an application, the city manager shall conduct or cause to be conducted whatever investigation is deemed necessary to assure the city manager that activities under the permit will probably comply in all respects with the requirements set forth in Penal Code Section 326.5 and with local standard permit conditions, and with whatever other conditions the city manager deems necessary or desirable to protect the public peace, health, safety and welfare and to assure compliance with all laws, state and local.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

A. Permits as applied for shall be issued by the city manager provided it appears that all requirements of Penal Code Sections 326.5 and of this chapter and of the standards, rules and regulations (including special conditions which will be attached to the permit), applicable pursuant to this chapter and other ordinances and laws, have been, and will appropriately be, met fully by the applicant.

B. A permit shall be denied if the character, reputation or moral integrity of the applicant organization's personnel (management or otherwise) is determined by the city manager to be inimical or detrimental to the safety or general welfare of the community, or if the applicant falsifies any information in the permit application or omits any information required therein. A permit denial shall, however, be made only after opportunity has been granted to the applicant for a due process hearing before the city manager, after at least ten days' notice to the applicant, setting forth a statement of the proposed grounds for denial of the permit, and stating the time and place the hearing will be held.

C. No permit shall be issued for the conducting of any bingo game or games by the city or any department or agency thereof, but any organization to which the city leases or donates regular use of its premises may use such premises for the conduct of bingo games upon issuance of a bingo license to such organization.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982; Ord. 296 § 3, 1990)

All permits issued under this chapter to allow bingo games shall be subject to the following conditions as mandated by Penal Code Section 326.5:

A. Bingo games are allowed only when they are for the benefit of organizations listed in subsection C of Section 11.13.020.

B. No person is to receive a profit, wage, or salary from any authorized bingo game.

C. No minors shall be allowed to participate in any bingo game.

D. A nonprofit organization shall conduct a bingo game only on property owned or leased by it, and which property is used by the organization for an office or for performance of the purposes for which the organization is organized. Premises used solely for purposes of conducting bingo games are not qualified therefor.

E. All bingo games shall be open to the public, not just to the members of the nonprofit organization.

F. A bingo game shall be operated and staffed only by members of the nonprofit organization which organized it. Such members shall not receive a profit, wage, or salary from any bingo game. Only the organization authorized to conduct a bingo game shall operate the game, or participate in the promotion, supervision or any other phase of the game. This subsection does not preclude the employment of security personnel who are not members of the authorized organization at such bingo game by the organization conducting the game, to be paid from the proceeds of the bingo game.

G. No individual, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity except the organization authorized to conduct a bingo game shall hold a financial interest in the conduct of the bingo game.

H. All profits derived from a bingo game shall be kept in a special fund or account and shall not be commingled with any other fund or account.

I. No person shall be allowed to participate in a bingo game, unless the person is physically present at the time and place in which the bingo game is being conducted.

J. The total value of prizes awarded during the conduct of any bingo games shall not exceed two hundred fifty dollars in cash or kind, or both, for each separate game which is held.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982; Ord. 296 § 4, 1990)

All permits issued pursuant to provisions of this chapter shall be subject to the following additional special conditions:

A. Bingo games shall be conducted only between the hours of twelve noon and eleven p.m., and for not more than four hours on any single day.

B. Bingo games shall not be conducted by any organization authorized to do so, for more than five days in any calendar month, except that in any building owned and controlled by the City of Cathedral City, bingo games may be conducted by an organization for as many as, but not more than, ten days in any calendar month, with approval of the City Manager.

C. Any peace officer or official city inspector shall have free access to any bingo game allowed under this chapter. The permittee shall have the bingo permit and lists of approved staff available for inspection at all time during period in which bingo games are conducted.

D. No person who is obviously intoxicated shall be allowed to participate in a bingo game.

E. Premises for which any bingo permit is issued shall qualify for the public assembly numbers of the people anticipated, under applicable provisions of zoning, fire, parking and occupancy ordinances and other laws and regulations.

F. Notwithstanding that bingo games are open to the public, attendance at any bingo game shall be limited to the occupancy capacity of the room in which the game is conducted as determined by the fire department and building inspector of the city in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

G. A permittee shall not reserve seats or space for any persons, except as might be necessary for the reasonable accommodation of handicapped or infirm persons on a nondiscriminatory basis.

H. The permittee shall display the permit in a conspicuous place in the premises where the bingo games are conducted.

I. "Pull tabs," as authorized by state law, may be sold in conjunction with bingo games authorized by permits issued by the city. "Pull tabs," for purposes of this chapter, refer to those cards having numbers or symbols which are concealed and preprinted in a manner providing for distribution of prizes, as described in Section 326.5 of the California Penal Code, subsection o.

J. Except when conducted in a building owned and controlled by the city for which the city manager has given permission for additional games as permitted by subsection B of this section, no single location shall be the site for playing of bingo more frequently than one time in any seven-day period. "Location," for purposes of this chapter, shall include the entire building within which the game is played or to be played, and not merely a unit, apartment, or rental space within such a building. For example, if one unit of an industrial park building is used for playing of bingo, no other unit within that same building may be the site of bingo within seven days of any game played in the first unit.

K. A permittee shall permit no more than two hundred twenty-five people to play bingo at a bingo session.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982; Ord. 296 §§ 5, 6, 7, 1990; Ord. 329 § 1, 1991; Ord. 368 § 2, 1992)

The issuance of any bingo permit pursuant to this chapter shall, if appropriate, have additional special conditions attached thereto which are deemed by the city manager to be necessary to implement the purposes of this chapter and of Penal Code Section 326.5, and to assure compliance with the provisions of this chapter and said section, and to protect the public peace, health, safety and welfare from foreseeable adverse effects which might otherwise result from any of the activities sanctioned by the permit, and the city manager shall have discretionary authority to prescribe any such necessary or appropriate conditions. The permittee (applicant) shall have the right to a due process hearing before the city manager, if the hearing is duly requested, in order to protest, or to propose modification to any such additional special condition existing or proposed.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

Each bingo permit issued shall be valid only until the immediately ensuing June 30th following its issuance. Bingo licenses shall be renewed from year to year, with each current licensing period running from July 1st to the following July 30th. Each permit issued under this chapter shall be issued to a specified nonprofit organization to conduct bingo games at a specified location and shall in no event be transferable from one organization to another nor from one location to another.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982; Ord. 378 § 3, 1993)

Any permit granted pursuant to the provisions of this chapter may, after the permittee has been afforded the opportunity of a due process hearing as stated in this chapter, be revoked, suspended or modified by the city manager for any of the following grounds or reasons:

A. There has been a violation of or a failure to comply with any condition attached to the permit or any provision or regulation mentioned in this chapter or any other rule or regulation or law specially applicable to the permitted activities;

B. The character or moral integrity of the permittee or permittee's personnel is determined inimical to the public safety or general welfare of the community;

C. There was given any false or fictitious information in connection with the application for and obtaining of the permit;

D. Any one of the permittee's personnel (management or otherwise) has committed any fraudulent, false, deceptive or dangerous act in connection with, or while conducting, any permitted bingo game;

E. The permittee or any of its personnel has conducted any bingo game in a manner contrary to the peace, health, safety or general welfare of the public;

F. The permittee or any of its personnel have, in connection with activities allowed by the permit, failed to comply with any law or regulation in any of the following fields: zoning, building codes, off-street parking requirements, controls related to public assemblies, health regulations, or local and state fire regulations;

G. Any activities done under or occurring incidental to the permit have interfered or tended to interfere with the normal flow of vehicular or pedestrian traffic on any public right-of-way;

H. Any activities done under or occurring incidental to the permit have unduly and unreasonably interfered with or adversely affected any private property owner's or resident's rights to peaceful and unmolested enjoyment of his private premises;

I. The permittee or any of its personnel have failed to comply with provisions of the city's sign ordinance, or with conditions attached to the permit relating to sign control;

J. Any other reason exists for which the permit might have been lawfully denied in the first instance, or that for any reason the continued operations under the permit will be inimical to the public safety or general welfare of the community.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

A. A revocation, suspension or modification as referred to in the preceding section shall be made only after opportunity has been granted to the permittee for a due process hearing before the city manager, after ten days' notice to the permittee, setting forth the nature and grounds of complaint against it and stating the time and place the hearing will be held.

B. Upon failure of the permittee to respond to the opportunity for hearing after receiving notice of the hearing, the permit may be suspended or revoked, or may be modified in such particulars as are deemed necessary in the public interest, and any such suspension, revocation or modification shall be effective upon notice or knowledge thereof being received by any of the permittee's local management personnel, orally or in writing. Any such order of suspension, revocation or modification shall also be effective as to any employee or agent of the permittee, which employee or agent has been notified orally or in writing of the substance of the order.

C. Any such revocation or modification of any permit may be in addition to any penalties otherwise provided for by law.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

Any person aggrieved by, dissatisfied with, or excepting to any action, denial, order, requirement, condition, permit, decision or determination made by the city manager in administering the provisions of this chapter may appeal by filing written notice specifying the grounds of appeal and the relief sought, with the city clerk within ten days after notice of the action from which appealed. Upon any failure to file such written appeal within the time allowed in this section, the action of the city manager shall be final and conclusive. A timely appeal shall be reviewed by the city manager, and unless an adjustment of the matter is made by the city manager, satisfactory to the appellant, the appeal shall be expeditiously scheduled for hearing before the city council, which body at the conclusion of its consideration may affirm, reverse or modify the action appealed from and may take any action which might have been legally taken in the first instance by the city manager.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

In the event a renewal application is filed during the pendency of a proceeding to suspend or revoke the permit, such filing shall continue the permit in full force and effect until the making of the final order by the city manager terminating proceedings. Failure of the city manager to revoke, suspend, limit, or condition the permit shall have the effect of granting the renewal. The application for renewal shall become a part of the pending proceeding and be subject to all evidence which has been or is thereafter presented. No further notice to the applicant is required and the city manager is authorized to consider and take action upon the application in accordance with this chapter.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

In connection with any function vested by this chapter in the city manager, should the city manager in a particular case be disqualified to act, then the chief of police shall perform all functions and exercise all authority under this chapter otherwise vested in the city manager. Should both such officers simultaneously be so disqualified, then the city council shall designate another city officer to act in the particular case.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982)

Any permit issued pursuant to this chapter shall, during its term, be deemed in effect so as to validate bingo games thereunder (which would otherwise be unlawful under state law) only throughout periods of time during which the permittee and its personnel are fully complying with all permit conditions referred to and/or authorized in or by Sections 11.13.090, 11.13.100 and 11.13.110. If any such permit conditions are being violated or not complied with, then the state laws regarding bingo games shall be deemed fully applicable to the permittee and its personnel managing, supervising or conducting the bingo games, to the same extent as if no permit has ever been issued; provided, however, that members of the public who are participating in the bingo games not as personnel of the permittee, which members of the public have no knowledge or reason to know, of the aforesaid violations of or noncompliance with the permit conditions, shall be deemed to be participating in games for which a permit is in full force and effect, so long as a permit is conspicuously displayed upon the premises in accordance with subsection H of Section 11.13.100.

(Ord. 15 § 1, 1982; Ord. 542 § 3, 2001)