Charitable gambling in Indiana has taken a hit since Covid-19 erupted in 2020. According to the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC), charitable gambling gross receipts have dropped from $433 million in 2019 to $326 million in 2021, a 24 percent decline.
Commission officials said requests for charitable gambling licenses have also dropped. And Assistant Director Mark Mason said the supply chain has caused problems with the “paper-intensive” activity, including bingo cards or raffle tickets, that charitable gambling organizations must purchase from approved vendors. Mason noted two established distributors went out of business in the last few months.
He said, “When I hear from an organization, when I talk to them, they’re not talking about the pandemic anymore. What they’re concerned about now is getting the supply to continue doing their gaming. That doesn’t mean that places are failing. We’ve got groups that are recovering and they’re doing quite well. But the smaller organizations are the ones that are concerned with their survival.”
Gambling Analyst Ed Feigenbaum pointed out charitable gambling actually has been slowly declining since at least 2009, when it reported $538 million in gross receipts. When charitable gambling debuted in 1994, gross receipts totaled $311 million.
Feigenbaum said bingo, which used to attract large crowds and generate millions in revenue, has fallen behind raffle games, which typically offer higher payouts. Feigenbaum said demographics are the reason for the decrease in bingo popularity.
“Bingo was basically a game for the older demographic and we’re losing that older demographic. Baby boomers are probably the last bastion. And Covid certainly killed bingo in terms of being a social activity. It’s a different industry than it was several years ago and it’s going to have to evolve even more,” Feigenbaum said.
IGC Deputy Director Jennifer Reske added many organizations left bingo for raffle games since raffles are less labor-intensive and require fewer people to run an event. “Memberships in organizations are declining and because of that they need to find ways to conduct activities that fit within their new environment,” Reske said.
She added, “We’re not going to minimize the challenges they face, and I think they’ve been significant. We’ll continue to work with organizations and listen to them and do our best to continue to provide that service.”
