By Paige Gurgainers
During committee meetings held on Tuesday, September 1, the Webster Parish Police Jury (WPPJ) approved a motion granting any charitable organization in the parish a blanket waiver permitting them to sell raffle tickets.
This decision was made following discussions regarding a local organization, WHO of North Webster, having issues with the Louisiana Office of Charitable Gambling (OCG).
According to the OCG’s website an organization conducting a raffle must obtain a gaming license with organizations only qualifying for this license by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or obtaining a tax exemption.
This issue was a “first” for Parish Attorney Patrick Jackson, who has worked with the WPPJ for more than 25 years.
“I have never even heard of this,” he said. “I am sure there was a great reason why they did this. There were probably some scammers that were coming in going city to city or parish to parish, selling some kind of raffle and so they got a hold of them and made them do this. It is not intended for the local charity trying to do good in our community.”
Jackson agreed creating this blanket waiver made available to any parish charity may satisfy the state government and eliminate these organizations from getting fined in the future.
This has not been the only issue in the parish. Recently, Michelle Lewis with LaMa Animal Rescue, has also run into issues with the OCG. LaMa is a non-profit and volunteer-based group that advocates for homeless, abused and neglected animals in the parish and surrounding areas. They hold quarterly BINGO events to help raise funds for this purpose.
According to Lewis, they are licensed with the OCG and have been holding BINGO events for nearly 10 years and have never encountered an issue before now. The OCG is not only requiring them to be licensed, but the building to be licensed, as well.
“We received our certificate granting the ability to conduct charitable gaming. You have to plan it for the whole year,” said Lewis.
“We paid our $75 application fee, but they couldn’t approve where we are having our sessions.”
Lewis explained that after multiple phone calls to different supervisors at the OCG, the decision remains, but there is a small loophole.
“We can’t specifically have BINGO unless it’s in a licensed facility. We can have an event with other things going on and play Bingo, but we can’t charge to play BINGO.”
LaMa will be holding a Halloween Bash on October 19 beginning at 5 p.m. in the CAC Building in Springhill. The event will feature a costume contest, line dancing, games, silent auction, door prizes, refreshments AND BINGO.
For other organizations in the parish that have questions regarding their ability to sell raffle tickets, they may reach out to the WPPJ or the OCG.