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A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE GAMING CONTROL BOARD TO ENGAGE IN DISCUSSIONS

WITH RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS LICENSED TO OFFER BINGO OR

RAFFLES PURSUANT TO THE BINGO AND RAFFLE ACT TO REVIEW RULES

THAT IMPEDE THOSE ORGANIZATIONS FROM OPERATING PROFITABLE

BINGO GAMES AND DEVELOP RULES THAT ALLOW THOSE ORGANIZATIONS

TO CONTINUE TO OPERATE SUCCESSFULLY.

WHEREAS, churches and other religious organizations have

offered bingo and raffles to parishioners and members for many

years; and

WHEREAS, with the expansion of gaming in New Mexico,

many small bingo games have lost their participants to other

venues for gaming or bingo; and

WHEREAS, many churches and religious organizations rely

on the funds generated by bingo games, and many older people

view bingo at their church or church auxiliary as an important

social activity; and

WHEREAS, many parishioners and members of churches or

religious organizations enjoy playing bingo in a familiar

location surrounded by friends and other people familiar to

them; and

WHEREAS, bingo is an important social activity for many

people, including many elderly people; and

WHEREAS, the regulation of the Bingo and Raffle Act was

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relocated in 2005 from the regulation and licensing department

to the gaming control board to consolidate the regulation of

gaming in one agency and to provide greater oversight of the

organizations that are licensed pursuant to the Bingo and

Raffle Act; and

WHEREAS, the new regulatory system has made it more

difficult for some small bingo operations to remain viable;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the gaming

control board be requested to initiate and engage in

discussions with churches or other religious organizations

that are licensed to conduct bingo games pursuant to the Bingo

and Raffle Act, to review rules that impede those

organizations from operating profitable bingo games and to

develop rules that allow those organizations to continue to

operate successfully; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the gaming control board.