Bingo is emperor in Georgia. Georgia is where Bingo originated in The United States, back in 1929. But during the decades just after Bingo arrived (through Italy) at a fair in Georgia, the game was made against the law with most other forms of betting.
In Nineteen Seventy Six, Bingo was legalized for not for profit businesses. Since Bingo is one of only three forms of betting legitimate in Georgia (along with raffles and also the state lottery), the game has grow to be a big crowd pleaser.
There are more than Two hundred bingo providers in Georgia these days. Georgians grossed above $35,000,000 in revenues for its Bingo operators in Two Thousand and Five, for an average of about $130,000 per operation. Georgians won around 20,000,000 dollars in cash during the same period. Georgian charities saw one millio five hundred thousand dollars in income from the Bingo industry.
Georgia has a number of of the strictest bingo regulations in the U.S. Operators are constrained in the number of prizes they can pay out at any one time. Games can hand out prizes with a one thousand five hundred dollars per session and $3,000 per week, which is well lower than the limitations in other states.
The GBI: Bingo Unit oversees bingo games inside the state. In the last Twenty five years, about 50 organizations have forfeited their permit in Georgia for repeated violations of the local gambling regulations. The outcome is that the majority of bingo parlours in Georgia are V.F.W.s and service agencies, the kind of organizations which operate a game to pay for their non-profit activities.
Of course, as long as bingo is really a large money venture, there will be people who find a way to skirt the law. With 12,000 or more men and women working within the charitable gambling industry of Georgia, the Bingo Unit is certain to be busy in the years to come.