N.Y. General Municipal Law § 186: Definitions

§ 186. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms shall

have the following meanings:

1. "Municipality" shall mean any city, town or village within this

state.

2. "Board" shall mean New York state gaming commission created

pursuant to section one hundred two of the racing, pari-mutuel wagering

and breeding law.

* 2-a. "Commission" means the New York state gaming commission.

* NB Effective December 19, 2026

3. "Games of chance" shall mean and include only the games known as

"merchandise wheels", "coin boards", "merchandise boards", "seal cards",

"event games", "raffles", and "bell jars" and such other specific games

as may be authorized by the board, in which prizes are awarded on the

basis of a designated winning number or numbers, color or colors, symbol

or symbols determined by chance, but not including games commonly known

as "bingo or lotto" which are controlled under article fourteen-H of

this chapter and also not including "bookmaking", "policy or numbers

games" and "lottery" as defined in section 225.00 of the penal law. No

game of chance shall involve wagering of money by one player against

another player.

* 3-a. "Bell jars" shall mean and include those games in which a

participant shall draw a card from a jar, vending machine, or other

suitable device or container which contains numbers, colors or symbols

that are covered and which, when uncovered, may reveal that a prize

shall be awarded on the basis of a designated winning number, color or

symbol or combination of numbers, colors or symbols. Bell jars shall

also include seal cards, coin boards, event games, and merchandise

boards.

* NB Effective until December 19, 2026

* 3-a. "Bell jars" shall mean and include those games in which a

participant shall draw a card from a jar, vending machine, including an

electronic bell jar vending machine, or other suitable device or

container which contains numbers, colors or symbols that are covered and

which, when uncovered, may reveal that a prize shall be awarded on the

basis of a designated winning number, color or symbol or combination of

numbers, colors or symbols. Bell jars shall also include seal cards,

coin boards, event games, and merchandise boards.

* NB Effective December 19, 2026

3-b. "Raffle" shall mean and include those games of chance in which a

participant pays money in return for a ticket or other receipt and in

which a prize is awarded on the basis of a winning number or numbers,

color or colors, or symbol or symbols designated on the ticket or

receipt, determined by chance as a result of:

(a) a drawing from among those tickets or receipts previously sold; or

(b) a random event, the results of which correspond with tickets or

receipts previously sold.

3-c. "Coin board" and "merchandise board" shall mean a board used in

conjunction with bell jar tickets which contains and displays various

coins and/or merchandise as prizes. A player having a bell jar ticket

with a number matching a pre-designated number reflected on the board

for a prize wins that prize.

3-d. "Seal cards" shall mean a board or placard used in conjunction

with a deal of the same serial number which contains one or more

concealed areas that, when removed or opened, reveal a predesignated

winning number, letter, or symbol located on the board or placard. A

seal card used in conjunction with an event game shall not be required

to contain lines for prospective seal winners to sign their name.

3-e. "Event game" shall mean a bell jar game in which certain winners

are determined by the random selection of one or more bingo numbers, the

use of a seal card or by another method approved by the board.

4. "Authorized organization" shall mean and include any bona fide

religious or charitable organization or bona fide educational, fraternal

or service organization or bona fide organization of veterans or

volunteer firefighters, which by its charter, certificate of

incorporation, constitution, or act of the legislature, shall have among

its dominant purposes one or more of the lawful purposes as defined in

this article, provided that each shall operate without profit to its

members, and provided that each such organization has engaged in serving

one or more of the lawful purposes as defined in this article for a

period of three years immediately prior to applying for a license under

this article.

No organization shall be deemed an authorized organization which is

formed primarily for the purpose of conducting games of chance and which

does not devote at least seventy-five percent of its activities to other

than conducting games of chance. No political party shall be deemed an

authorized organization.

5. "Lawful purposes" shall mean one or more of the following causes,

deeds or activities:

(a) Those which shall benefit needy or deserving persons indefinite in

number by enhancing their opportunity for religious or educational

advancement, by relieving them from disease, suffering or distress, or

by contributing to their physical wellbeing, by assisting them in

establishing themselves in life as worthy and useful citizens, or by

increasing their comprehension of and devotion to the principles upon

which this nation was founded and enhancing their loyalty to their

governments.

(b) Those which shall initiate, perform or foster worthy public works

or shall enable or further the erection or maintenance of public

structures.

(c) Those that otherwise lessen the burdens borne by government or

that are voluntarily undertaken by an authorized organization to augment

or supplement services which government would normally render to the

people, including, in the case of volunteer firefighters or voluntary

emergency medical service activities, the purchase, erection or

maintenance of a building for a firehouse or a volunteer ambulance corps

building, activities open to the public for the enhancement of

membership and the purchase of equipment that can reasonably be expected

to increase the efficiency of response to fires, accidents, medical

emergencies, public calamities and other emergencies.

d. Those which shall initiate, perform or foster the provisions of

services to veterans by encouraging the gathering of such veterans and

shall enable or further the erection or maintenance of facilities for

use by such veterans which shall be used primarily for charitable or

patriotic purposes, or those purposes which shall be authorized by a

bona fide organization of veterans, provided however that such proceeds

are disbursed pursuant to section one hundred eighty-nine of this

article.

6. "Net proceeds" shall mean (a) in relation to the gross receipts

from one or more license periods of games of chance, the amount that

shall remain after deducting the reasonable sums necessarily and

actually expended for supplies and equipment, prizes,

security-personnel, stated rental if any, bookkeeping or accounting

services according to a schedule of compensation prescribed by the

board, janitorial services and utility supplies if any, license fees,

and the cost of bus transportation, if authorized by the clerk or

department and (b) in relation to the gross rent received by an

authorized games of chance lessor for the use of its premises by a game

of chance licensee, the amount that shall remain after deducting the

reasonable sums necessarily and actually expended for janitorial

services and utility supplies directly attributable thereto if any.

7. "Net lease" shall mean a written agreement between a lessor and

lessee under the terms of which the lessee is entitled to the

possession, use or occupancy of the whole or part of any premises from

any non-commercial or non-profit authorized games of chance lessor for

which the lessee pays rent to the lessor and likewise undertakes to pay

substantially all of the regularly recurring expenses incident to the

operation and maintenance of such leased premises.

8. "Authorized games of chance lessor" shall mean an authorized

organization which has been granted a lessor's license pursuant to the

provisions of this article or a municipality.

9. "Single type of game" shall mean the games of chance known as

merchandise wheels, coin boards, merchandise boards, event games,

raffles, and bell jars and each other specific game of chance authorized

by the board.

10. "Operation" shall mean the play of a single type of game of chance

necessary to determine the outcome or winners each time wagers are made.

A single drawing of a winning ticket or other receipt in a raffle shall

be deemed one operation.

11. "Single prize" shall mean the sum of money or fair market value of

merchandise or coins awarded to a participant by a games of chance

licensee in any one operation of a single type of game of chance in

excess of his wager.

12. "Series of prizes" shall mean the total amount of single prizes

minus the total amount of wagers lost during the successive operations

of a single type of game of chance, except that for merchandise wheels

and raffles, "series of prizes" shall mean the sum of cash and the fair

market value of merchandise awarded as single prizes during the

successive operations of any single merchandise wheel or raffle. In the

game of raffle, a series of prizes may include a percentage of the sum

of cash received from the sale of raffle tickets.

13. "Authorized supplier of games of chance equipment" shall mean any

person, firm, partnership, corporation or organization licensed by the

board to sell or lease games of chance equipment or paraphernalia which

meets the specifications and regulations established by the board.

Nothing herein shall prevent an authorized organization from purchasing

common articles, such as cards and dice, from normal sources of supply

of such articles or from constructing equipment and paraphernalia for

games of chance for its own use. However, no such equipment or

paraphernalia, constructed or owned by an authorized organization shall

be sold or leased to any other authorized organization, without written

permission from the board.

14. "One occasion" shall mean the successive operations of any one

single type of game of chance which results in the awarding of a series

of prizes amounting to five hundred dollars or four hundred dollars

during any one license period, in accordance with the provisions of

subdivision eight of section one hundred eighty-nine of this article, as

the case may be. For purposes of the game of chance known as a

merchandise wheel or a raffle, "one occasion" shall mean the successive

operations of any one such merchandise wheel or raffle for which the

limit on a series of prizes provided by subdivision six of section one

hundred eighty-nine of this article shall apply. For purposes of the

game of chance known as a bell jar, "one occasion" shall mean the

successive operation of any one such bell jar, seal card, event game,

coin board, or merchandise board which results in the awarding of a

series of prizes amounting to three thousand dollars. For the purposes

of the game of chance known as raffle "one occasion" shall mean a

calendar year during which successive operations of such game are

conducted.

15. "License period" shall mean a period of time not to exceed

fourteen consecutive hours and, for purposes of the game of chance known

as a bell jar and a raffle, "license period" shall mean a period of time

running from January first to December thirty-first of each year.

16. "Clerk" shall mean the clerk of a municipality outside the city of

New York.

17. "Officer" shall mean the chief law enforcement officer of a

municipality outside the city of New York, or if such municipality

exercises the option set forth in subdivision two of section one hundred

ninety-four of this article, the chief law enforcement officer of the

county.

18. "Department" shall mean the New York City Department of Consumer

Affairs.

19. "Premises" shall mean a designated area within a building, hall,

tent, or grounds reasonably identified for the conduct of games of

chance. Nothing herein shall require such area to be enclosed.

20. "Games of chance currency" shall mean legal tender or a form of

scrip or chip authorized by the board, except for games known as

"raffles" whereby payment shall mean legal tender, credit or debit card

or personal check, any of which may be used at the discretion of the

games of chance licensee.

21. "Flare" shall mean a poster description of the bell jar game,

which shall include a declaration of the number of winners and amount of

prizes in each deal, the number of prizes available in the deal, the

number of tickets in each deal which contain the stated prize; the

manufacturer's game form number, and the serial number of the deal which

shall be identical to the serial number imprinted on each ticket

contained in the deal.

* 22. "Gaming facility" means any commercial casino licensed pursuant

to article thirteen of the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding

law, or a video lottery gaming facility operating pursuant to article

thirty-four of the tax law. Locations of such facilities shall be those

identified by the commission.

* NB Effective December 19, 2026

* 23. "Veteran organization" means a members-only organization

comprising veterans and their family members, where the organization's

focus is on the support of and advocacy for veterans and military

service members and that is licensed to operate bell jar games as of

November thirtieth, two thousand twenty-five and shall not include any

auxiliary organizations.

* NB Effective December 19, 2026

* 24. "Volunteer fire company" shall mean a fire company as defined in

subdivision two of section three of the volunteer firefighters' benefit

law, and whose members provide firefighting services on a volunteer

basis.

* NB Effective December 19, 2026