Video bingo takes in $4.5 million
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HAMMOND — The city’s three video bingo parlors took in $4.5 million in their second year of operations, according to estimates based on city tax collections released last week.
The parlors paid the city a total of $216,898 for games played from July through September, according to tax receipts. Total tax receipts for the past four quarters amount to $919,358.
Each quarter, the parlors pay the city a 20 percent tax on their net win, which is how much money they take in minus payouts to winners.
This is the eighth public reporting of video bingo tax receipts since the city’s first two parlors, Cypress Palace Bingo and Hammond Bingo Palace, opened in October 2006. The third parlor, Bingo Alley, opened on May 9.
Total tax receipts are up by $70,680 in video bingo’s second year of operations in the city. However, collections in this latest reported quarter have been the lowest so far in 2008.
The advent of the third parlor, Bingo Alley, reignited the controversy surrounding video bingo in the city and sparked a voter petition drive to place a video bingo ban proposition on the Nov. 4 general election ballot. Voters living in the city limits of Hammond can cast a “yes” vote to ban the games and a “no” vote keep the games during the upcoming election.
Video bingo is much like video poker in that users insert money into machines to play the games.
However, video bingo machines are used by sponsoring charities for fundraising purposes and are regulated under state laws other than those controlling video poker.
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