N.Y. General Municipal Law § 476: Definitions

§ 476. 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. "Control commission" or "commission" shall mean the New York state

gaming commission created pursuant to section one hundred two of the

racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law.

3. "Bingo" or "game" shall mean and include a specific game of chance,

commonly known as bingo or lotto, in which prizes are awarded on the

basis of designated numbers or symbols on a card conforming to numbers

or symbols selected at random.

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

religious or charitable organization or bona fide educational,

fraternal, civic or service organization or bona fide organization of

veterans, volunteer firefighters, or volunteer ambulance workers, 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 one year immediately prior to

applying for a license under this article.

5. "Bingo control law" shall mean article nineteen-B of the executive

law.

6. "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 well-being, 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 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 in accordance with the rules and regulations of the state

gaming commission.

(d) Those which shall otherwise lessen the burdens borne by government

or which are voluntarily undertaken by an authorized organization to

augment or supplement services which government would normally render to

the people.

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

from one or more occasions of bingo, the amount that shall remain after

deducting the reasonable sums necessarily and actually expended for

bingo supplies and equipment, prizes, stated rental if any, bookkeeping

or accounting services according to a schedule of compensation

prescribed by the commission, janitorial services and utility supplies

if any, license fees, and the cost of bus transportation, if authorized

by the control commission, and (b) in relation to the gross rent

received by an organization licensed to conduct bingo for the use of its

premises by another 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.

8. "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 commercial

premises 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.

9. "Authorized commercial lessor" shall mean a person, firm or

corporation other than a licensee to conduct bingo under the provisions

of this article, who or which owns or is a net lessee of premises and

offer the same for leasing by him, her or it to an authorized

organization for any consideration whatsoever, direct or indirect, for

the purpose of conducting bingo therein, provided that he, she or it, as

the case may be, shall not be

(a) a person convicted of a crime if there is a direct relationship

between one or more of the previous criminal offenses and the integrity

or safety of bingo, considering the factors set forth in article

twenty-three-A of the correction law;

(b) a person who is or has been a professional gambler or gambling

promoter or who for other reasons is not of good moral character;

(c) a public officer who receives any consideration, direct or

indirect, as owner or lessor of premises offered for the purpose of

conducting bingo therein;

(d) a firm or corporation in which a person defined in paragraph (a),

(b) or (c) of this subdivision or a person married or related in the

first degree to such a person has greater than a ten percent

proprietary, equitable or credit interest or in which such a person is

active or employed.

Nothing contained in this subdivision shall be construed to bar any

firm or corporation that is not organized for pecuniary profit and no

part of the net earnings of which inure to the benefit of any

individual, member, or shareholder, from being an authorized commercial

lessor solely because a public officer, or a person married or related

in the first degree to a public officer, is a member of, active in or

employed by such firm or corporation.

10. "Limited period bingo" shall mean the conduct of bingo by a

licensed authorized organization, for a period of not more than seven of

twelve consecutive days in any one year, at a festival, bazaar, carnival

or similar function conducted by such licensed authorized organization.

No authorized organization licensed to conduct limited period bingo

shall be otherwise eligible to conduct bingo pursuant to this article in

the same year.

11. "Supercard" shall mean a bingo card on which prizes are awarded,

which card is selected by the player, containing five designated

numbers, colors or symbols, corresponding to the letters B, I, N, G, O,

displayed on the bingo board of the bingo premises operator, which can

be played concurrently with the other bingo cards played during the game

of bingo.

11-a. "Early bird" shall mean a bingo game which is played as a

special game, conducted not more than twice during a bingo occasion, in

which prizes are awarded based upon a percentage not to exceed

seventy-five percent of the sum of money received from the sale of the

early bird cards and which is neither subject to the prize limits

imposed by subdivisions five and six of section four hundred

seventy-nine and paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section four

hundred eighty-one, nor the special game opportunity charge limit

imposed by section four hundred eighty-nine of this article. The

percentage shall be specified both in the application for bingo license

and the license. Not more than one dollar shall be charged per card with

the total amount collected from the sale of the early bird cards and the

prize for each game to be announced before the commencement of each

game.

11-b. "Bonus ball" shall mean a bingo game that is played in

conjunction with one or more regular or special bingo games designated

as bonus ball games by the licensed authorized organization during one

or more consecutive bingo occasions in which a prize is awarded to the

player obtaining a specified winning bingo pattern when the last number

called by the licensed authorized organization is the designated bonus

ball number. The bonus ball prize shall be based upon a percentage of

the sales from opportunities to participate in bonus ball games not to

exceed seventy-five percent of the sum of money received from the sale

of bonus ball opportunities or six thousand dollars, whichever shall be

less, and which is not subject to the prize limits imposed by

subdivisions five and six of section four hundred seventy-nine and

paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section four hundred eighty-one of

this article. The percentage shall be specified both in the application

for the bingo license and the license. Notwithstanding section four

hundred eighty-nine of this article, not more than one dollar shall be

charged per player for an opportunity to participate in all bonus ball

games conducted during a single bingo occasion, and the total amount

collected from the sale of bonus ball opportunities and the amount of

the prize to be awarded shall be announced prior to the start of each

bingo occasion.

12. "Prize", where supercard is played as set forth in subdivision

eleven of this section, shall mean the sum of money or actual value of

merchandise awarded to the winner or winners on a game card during a

game of bingo and the sum of money or actual value of merchandise

awarded to the winner or winners on a supercard in excess of the total

receipts derived from the sale of supercards for that specific game.

13. "Ancillary non-gaming activity" shall mean any activity not

directly related to the conduct or outcome of any game of bingo, and

shall include assisting at any food concession, cleaning, maintenance

and site preparation at the location where games of bingo are conducted.