N.Y. General Municipal Law § 475: Short title; purpose of article

§ 475. Short title; purpose of article. This article shall be known

and may be cited as the bingo licensing law. The legislature hereby

declares that the raising of funds for the promotion of bona fide

charitable, educational, scientific, health, religious, civic and

patriotic causes and undertakings, where the beneficiaries are

indefinite, is in the public interest. It hereby finds that, as

conducted prior to the enactment of this article, bingo was the subject

of exploitation by professional gamblers, promoters, and commercial

interests. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the legislature

that all phases of the supervision, licensing and regulation of bingo

and of the conduct of bingo games, should be closely controlled and that

the laws and regulations pertaining thereto should be strictly construed

and rigidly enforced; that the conduct of the game and all attendant

activities should be so regulated and adequate controls so instituted as

to discourage commercialization in all its forms, including the rental

of commercial premises for bingo games, and to ensure a maximum

availability of the net proceeds of bingo exclusively for application to

the worthy causes and undertakings specified herein; that the only

justification for this article is to foster and support such worthy

causes and undertakings, and that the mandate of section nine of article

one of the state constitution, as amended, should be carried out by

rigid regulation to prevent commercialized gambling, prevent

participation by criminal and other undesirable elements and prevent the

diversion of funds from the purposes herein authorized.