La Palma Municipal Code Art. II Amusements and Gaming

No person shall carry on or assist in carrying on any amusement or entertainment to which the public is invited, or in which the public may participate, at any time between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.

(Code 1975, § 18-1; Ord. No. 19, § 1)

Except for a bingo game as operated under a permit issued under the provisions of this article, no person shall conduct a bingo game within the City.

(a) As used in this section, the term "bingo" means a game of chance in which prizes are awarded on the basis of designated numbers or symbols that are marked or covered by the player on a tangible card in the player's possession, and which conform to numbers or symbols selected at random and announced by a live caller. Notwithstanding Penal Code § 330c (Punchboard definition), as used in this section, the game of bingo includes tangible cards having numbers or symbols that are concealed and preprinted in a manner providing for distribution of prizes.

(b) No person shall conduct a bingo game within the City without having applied for and received a permit from the City Manager. City administered bingo games that meet the intent of these provisions and otherwise comply with State laws, shall be exempt from the permitting requirement.

(c) A permit issued pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall be subject to the following conditions:

(1) Only those organizations exempted from payment of the bank and corporation tax by Revenue and Taxation Code §§ 23701a, 23701b, 23701d, 23701e, 23701f, 23701g, 23701k, 23701w, and 23701l, and mobile home park associations, senior citizens organizations, and charitable organizations affiliated with a school district, if the receipts of those games are used only for charitable purposes, may receive a permit to conduct a bingo game.

(2) Any authorized organization enumerated in subsection (c)(1) of this section shall conduct a bingo game only on property owned or leased by it, or property whose use is donated to the organization, and used by such organization for an office or for performance of the purposes for which such organization is organized. 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, that organization.

(3) All bingo games shall be open to the public, not only to the members of such authorized organization.

(4) A bingo game shall be operated and staffed only by members of the authorized 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 such game or participate in the promotion, supervision, or any other phase of such game. This subsection does not preclude the employment of security personnel who are not members of the authorized organization at a bingo game by the organization conducting the game.

(5) No individual, corporation, partnership or other legal entity other than the organization authorized to conduct a bingo game and holding a permit therefor, shall hold a financial interest in the conduct of such bingo game.

(6) With respect to organizations exempt from payment of the bank and corporation tax by Revenue and Taxation Code § 23701d, 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.

(7) With respect to other organizations authorized to conduct bingo games pursuant to this section, all proceeds 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. Proceeds are the receipts of bingo games conducted by organizations not within subsection (c)(6) of this section. Those proceeds shall be used only for charitable purposes, except as follows:

a. The proceeds may be used for prizes.

b. A portion of the proceeds, not to exceed 20 percent of the proceeds before the deduction for prizes, or $2,000.00 per month, whichever is less, may be used for the rental of property and for overhead, including the purchase of bingo equipment, administrative expenses, security equipment, and security personnel.

c. The proceeds may be used to pay license fees.

(8) No minors, as defined by Penal Code § 313(g), shall be allowed to participate in any bingo game.

(9) No person shall be allowed to participate in a bingo game unless he or she is physically present at the time when and place in which the bingo game is being conducted.

(10) The total value of prizes awarded for each separate bingo game held shall not exceed $500.00 in cash or kind, or both, for each separate game which is held.

(11) No person shall receive a profit, wage, or salary from any bingo game. However, security personnel employed by the organization conducting the bingo game may be paid from the revenues of bingo games.

(d) Card-minding devices.

(1) Players who are physically present at a bingo game may use hand-held, portable card-minding devices, as described in this subsection, to assist in monitoring the numbers or symbols announced by a live caller as those numbers or symbols are called in a live game. Card-minding devices may not be used in connection with any game where a bingo card may be sold or distributed after the start of the ball draw for that game. A card-minding device shall do all of the following:

a. Be capable of storing in the memory of the device bingo faces of tangible cards purchased by a player.

b. Provide a means for bingo players to input manually each individual number or symbol announced by a live caller.

c. Compare the numbers or symbols entered by the player to the bingo faces previously stored in the memory of the device.

d. Identify winning bingo patterns that exist on the stored bingo faces.

(2) A card-minding device shall perform no functions involving the play of the game other than those described in subsection (d)(1) of this section. Card-minding devices shall not do any of the following:

a. Be capable of accepting or dispensing any coins, currency, or other representative of value or on which value has been encoded.

b. Be capable of monitoring any bingo card face other than the faces of the tangible bingo card or cards purchased by the player for that game.

c. Display or represent the game result through any means, including, but not limited to, video or mechanical reels or other slot machine or casino game themes, other than highlighting the winning numbers or symbols marked or covered on the tangible bingo cards or giving an audio alert that the player's card has a prize-winning pattern.

d. Determine the outcome of any game or be physically or electronically connected to any component that determines the outcome of a game or to any other bingo equipment, including, but not limited to, the ball call station, or to any other card-minding device. No other player-operated or player-activated electronic or electromechanical device or equipment is permitted to be used in connection with a bingo game.

(3) A card-minding device shall be approved in advance by the California Gambling Control Commission as meeting the requirements of this State law and any additional requirements stated in regulations adopted by the commission.

(e) A violation of subsection (c)(10) of this section shall constitute a violation of Penal Code § 326.5 and shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000.00, which fine shall be deposited in the General Fund of the City.

(Code 1975, § 18-1.1; Ord. No. 76-10)

State Law reference— Local regulation of bingo, Penal Code § 326.5.