Verticals / Charitable gaming
Charitable gaming
Charitable gaming is legal and live in 45 states, as of Oct 11, 2026. 3 states and DC allow it in a limited form.
Charitable gaming (bingo, raffles, pull-tabs).
LiveLegal, not launchedLimitedContestedProhibitedNot authorizedRepealedNA
By state
| State | Status | Launched | Model | Current tax | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo, pull-tabs, raffles, dog mushers' contests, and similar games (e.g., local "ice classic"/ice-pool contests) are licensed to qualifying nonprofit/municipal permittees that have existed 3+ consecutive years; operators (for-profit contractors) and vendors (bars/liquor stores selling pull-tabs) are separately licensed. A pending 2026 bill (SB 170) would authorize electronic pull-tabs and raise annual prize caps from $500,000 to $4,000,000 for e-pull-tab permittees. Pull-tab purchase age is 21+ (confirmed via direct fetch of AS 05.15.187(e)). | ||
| Arizona | Live | Charitable bingo is separately licensed under its own statutory chapter. | |||
| Arkansas | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo and raffles are legal only for qualified "authorized organizations" — nonprofit tax-exempt religious, educational, veterans, fraternal, service, civic, medical, volunteer rescue, firefighter, or police organizations that have existed in Arkansas for at least 5 years — licensed by the Dept. of Finance and Administration under the Arkansas Bingo and Raffles Enabling Act (voter-approved 2006 constitutional amendment, implemented 2007). Net proceeds must go to charitable/religious purposes. | ||
| California | Live | Bingo (Penal Code 326.5) is authorized only through local ordinance for specified nonprofit/charitable organizations, with proceeds restricted to charitable purposes; cities set their own permit rules and prize caps. Raffles (Penal Code 320.5) require the conducting organization to be an eligible California tax-exempt nonprofit registered with the DOJ Registry of Charitable Trusts, at least 90% of gross raffle-ticket receipts must support charitable purposes in California, a supervising adult (18+) is required, and raffles may not be conducted over the Internet. | |||
| Colorado | Live | Monopoly State | Secretary of State is the licensing authority for bingo and raffles conducted by qualified nonprofits (5+ years in existence in Colorado); $100 license/renewal fee; max progressive bingo/raffle prize $15,000, max progressive pull-tab prize $5,000. HB24-1326 (2024) restructured oversight into the Colorado Charitable Gaming Board and raised the per-citation fine cap to $250. | ||
| Connecticut | Live | Monopoly State | Eligible nonprofits may run bingo (authorized 1939), bazaars and raffles (added 1955), and sealed tickets/pull-tabs (added 1987). Las Vegas nights were legalized in 1972 but repealed in 2003; merchandise/cash money-wheel games remain not authorized under current Gaming Division guidance. FY2015 charitable gaming gross revenue was $32.7M with $10.6M organizational profit. | ||
| Delaware | Live | Monopoly State | Licensed charitable organizations may operate video lottery-style machines; player return 60-86% of proceeds, 40% (or 35% if networked) of the remainder to the State, 1% of the State's share to the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. | ||
| Florida | Live | Monopoly State | Charitable, nonprofit, and veterans' organizations active 3+ years (and certain condo/HOA/mobile-home resident associations) may run bingo/instant bingo for members; jackpots capped at $250 in value (max 3 per session/day), other game prizes capped at $50, instant bingo limited to the prize printed on the ticket. Minimum age 18 to play or help conduct a game. | ||
| Idaho | Live | Monopoly State | Constitutional exception for bingo/raffles run by qualified charities; the Idaho State Lottery's Enforcement Division licenses and regulates games under Title 67, Ch. 77 (IDAPA rules bring all legal bingo/raffles under Lottery control). | ||
| Illinois | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo, charitable games nights, raffles/poker runs, and pull-tabs/jar games are each licensed and taxed under their own dedicated Acts for qualified non-profit organizations. | ||
| Indiana | Live | Monopoly State | Charity gaming (bingo, raffles, pull tabs, punchboards, tip boards) licensed by the IGC's Charity Gaming Division for qualified 501-exempt nonprofits (over 4,000 licensees); oversight moved from the Dept. of Revenue to the IGC effective July 1, 2006. | ||
| Iowa | Live | Monopoly State | Covers bingo (incl. at fairs), raffles (incl. electronic raffles), social gambling (general, in licensed establishments, in public places, and between players), and amusement devices; licensed "qualified organizations" (nonprofits) may conduct bingo/raffles; a statutory "tax on prizes" applies (§99B.8). Regulator renamed from Dept. of Inspections & Appeals to Dept. of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL). | ||
| Kentucky | Live | Monopoly State | Licensed charitable organizations: bingo limited to 1 session/day, 3/week, up to 5 consecutive hours/day and 15 hours/week; bingo prizes capped at $5,000 fair market value per 24-hour period; individual charity-game-ticket (pull-tab) prizes capped at $1,499 (seal-card cumulative prizes capped at $2,400); charity fundraising events limited to 8 licenses/year (incl. 2 special-limited) and 72 consecutive hours. Organizations under $25,000/year gross receipts are exempt from licensure (still must notify the Office and file an annual financial report). License fees capped at $1,000 per license. (KRS 238.545, 238.535, effective July 15, 2026 versions.) | ||
| Louisiana | Live | Monopoly State | R.S. 4:707(A) lets the state's Office of Charitable Gaming license "charitable organizations" (as defined in R.S. 4:703(1)) to hold bingo, keno, and raffles; the parish or municipal governing authority must separately permit such gaming locally. A 2018 amendment (SB 559) exempted raffles benefiting schools/community purposes from licensing/reporting requirements where local authorities permit raffles. Special one-session bingo licenses cap total prizes at $25,000, with no more than two special licenses per organization per year. | ||
| Maine | Live | Monopoly State | Eligible nonprofit/community organizations may run bingo (prizes capped at $400 per §317, unless conducted under the separate high-stakes bingo program in §314-A, which allows unlimited prize values and is available to the 4 federally recognized tribes), raffles (prize values up to $75,000 under §1837), and card games (reported $1/hand maximum bet). | ||
| Maryland | Live | Charitable gaming (bingo, raffles, carnivals/bazaars, tip jars) is authorized under Criminal Law Title 13 but licensed and administered almost entirely at the county level rather than by a single statewide agency -- there is no one universal statewide charitable-gaming license; eligibility is generally limited to bona fide religious, fraternal, charitable, civic, and veterans' organizations and volunteer fire companies conducting games for their own benefit, with county-specific rules (e.g., Baltimore County bars casino-night-style card/dice/roulette games at carnivals/bazaars) governing permits, hours, and prize limits. | |||
| Massachusetts | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo is licensed and regulated at the state level by the Lottery Commission (single-event and annual licenses; 5% tax on gross bingo proceeds). Raffles/bazaars are permitted for qualifying nonprofits under c.271 §7A (also a 5% tax on gross proceeds), with additional disclosure rules once prize value exceeds $10,000 or ticket price exceeds $10; raffle permits are issued locally by cities/towns rather than the state. | ||
| Michigan | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo, raffles and "millionaire parties" (charitable casino nights) are licensed and regulated by the Michigan Lottery (not MGCB) under the Bingo Act. | ||
| Minnesota | Live | 8.5% NET_REVENUE (retail) 8% NET_REVENUE (retail) $0–$87.5K 17% NET_REVENUE (retail) $87.5K–$123K 25% NET_REVENUE (retail) $123K–$158K 33.5% NET_REVENUE (retail) $158K–∞ | Gambling Control Board licenses nonprofit organizations, gambling managers, distributors, manufacturers and linked-bingo providers for paper/electronic pull-tabs, bingo (bar bingo, break-open, non-linked), raffles, tipboards (including sports tipboards) and paddlewheels. Proceeds must go to defined "lawful purposes." | ||
| Mississippi | Live | Competitive | Mississippi's Charitable Bingo Law (Miss. Code Ann. §§ 97-33-50 et seq.) authorizes nonprofit civic, educational, wildlife-conservation and religious organizations to run bingo games, with pull-tabs permitted as a companion game to bingo, and separately exempts qualifying raffles run by and for the benefit of such nonprofits (all proceeds to the organization) from the general gambling statutes (§§ 97-33-1 to 97-33-49) and from the gaming-device provisions of § 75-76-1 et seq. Licensed organizations report to the Mississippi Gaming Commission. Page not fetched (PDF text unreadable); confirmed via search-result summary of the statute text, not a verbatim excerpt. | ||
| Missouri | Live | Sep 1, 1994 | MGC Charitable Games Division has licensed bingo, raffles and pull-tabs for qualified nonprofit organizations since September 1, 1994; a qualified organization may hold up to 15 pull-tab event licenses per calendar year. | ||
| Montana | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo, raffles, and calcutta pools are licensed by the Gambling Control Division alongside VGM and card-table gaming; not independently verified beyond the Division's general gambling-statutes compilation. | ||
| Nebraska | Live | Monopoly State | Keno ("city/county lottery") is run only by a county, city, or village after local voter approval at election; approved sponsors may license local businesses as keno sales-outlet locations, with the sponsoring municipality's approval. The Nebraska Dept. of Revenue's Charitable Gaming Division has licensed and regulated this activity since 1986, funded entirely by gaming taxes/fees rather than general state funds. Sponsors must undergo an annual compliance review of their keno activity. Minimum player age for keno is 19 (per a 2013 Dept. of Revenue ruling on player-access/self-service keno devices), lower than the 21+ minimum for racetrack-casino gaming and sports wagering. This is a separate statutory framework from, and not administered by, the NRGC; it predates and is distinct from the Nebraska Racetrack Gaming Act's casino regime. Keno revenue/tax-rate specifics were not independently located this session. | ||
| Nevada | Live | Charitable bingo/raffles are tiered by quarterly prize value: notification only if total prizes 2,500 dollars or less; registration (10 dollar fee) if 2,500-50,000 dollars; Gaming Control Board approval (25 dollar fee) if prizes exceed 50,000 dollars. Secondary source only (compliance-tracker figures, not verified against NRS/regulation text). | |||
| New Hampshire | Live | Competitive | Licensed charitable organizations may run games of chance (poker, bingo, Lucky 7 pull-tabs, raffles) for up to 10 game dates/year under a $50 charitable license (287-D:5-6, 287-D:13); facility, game-operator-employer, and primary/secondary game-operator licenses (3-year terms, $90-$2,250) allow for-profit companies to run the games on the charity's behalf. Games run 8:00am-4:00am; minimum age 18; no more than 2 charities per location per date. | ||
| New Jersey | Live | Monopoly State | Regulated by the Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission (within Division of Consumer Affairs); bingo/raffles/casino nights/armchair races are only permitted in municipalities that adopted them by referendum, and towns set additional local rules (e.g., Sunday-only play). A 2021 ballot measure (Public Question 2) let all nonprofits, not just veterans'/senior groups, use proceeds for general operations. | ||
| New Mexico | Live | Purpose section states the Act exists "to authorize and regulate certain games of chance" conducted "by licensed nonprofit organizations" (bingo and raffles). | |||
| New York | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo, bell jar (pull-tabs), raffles, and casino/"Las Vegas" nights are authorized for qualified organizations (existing 1+ years, with current membership rosters) that obtain a Games of Chance/Bingo ID number from the Gaming Commission's Division of Charitable Gaming; raffles netting under $5,000 are exempt from state registration. All proceeds must go to the organization's lawful purposes. | ||
| North Carolina | Live | Monopoly State | Qualifying nonprofits may hold up to 2 bingo sessions/week (single-game prize capped at $500) and up to 2 raffles/year (cash prizes capped at $10,000, non-cash at $50,000). "Beach bingo" with prizes of $10 or less may be run commercially with few restrictions. | ||
| North Dakota | Live | 1% OTHER (retail) 1% AGR (retail) $0–$50.0K 12% AGR (retail) $50.0K–∞ | Attorney General's Gaming Division licenses eligible nonprofit organizations for bingo, electronic quick shot bingo, pull-tabs, electronic pull-tabs (e-tabs, capped at 10 devices per site), punchboards, raffles (including electronic raffle systems), calcuttas, twenty-one, paddlewheels, poker, and sports pools. Manufacturer license fees range from $1,000 (electronic raffle systems) to $10,000 (electronic pull-tab systems); distributor license $2,000. A licensed organization may not have more than fifteen authorized sites (with a grandfather exception for those authorized before Jan. 1, 2023). | ||
| Ohio | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo, instant bingo/electronic instant bingo and raffles conducted only by qualifying 501(c)(3)/certain 501(c)(4),(7),(8),(10),(19) organizations in continuous existence in Ohio 2+ years, licensed annually by the Attorney General (Type I/II/III licenses). Proceeds must go to a defined "charitable purpose." | ||
| Oklahoma | Live | The Oklahoma Charity Games Act (3A O.S. § 401 et seq.) lets qualifying charitable organizations run bingo and other specified games of chance; games of chance run by non-charitable ("commercial bingo") operators are prohibited. Implementing rules sit in Oklahoma Administrative Code Title 45 (ABLE Commission), Chapter 50. A third-party licensing guide (not independently verified against the statute) reports a minimum 2 years' continuous existence for licensure, a $100 annual registration fee, a $6,000 per-session bingo prize cap, and a minimum age of 18 (minors may play if accompanied by a parent/guardian). | |||
| Oregon | Live | Charitable, religious, and fraternal bingo, lotto, and raffle games are exempt from Oregon's general gambling prohibition when conducted in compliance with state law; cities/counties separately license and regulate card-room/social-game premises and employees. | |||
| Pennsylvania | Live | Dec 19, 1988 | Monopoly State | Bingo, raffles, pull-tabs licensed by county treasurers for qualified nonprofits (post municipal referendum); taverns get a separate PLCB "tavern gaming license" for pull-tabs/raffles/daily drawings. | |
| Rhode Island | Live | Monopoly State | Charitable/nonprofit organizations may conduct "Bingo" or "Beano," or a raffle or lottery, only after filing a registration statement with the state; the statute does not extend to DFS or other contest-based games. Specific licensing regulator (commonly the Department of Business Regulation) and current fee/registration details were not independently confirmed beyond the statute text in this research pass. | ||
| South Carolina | Live | 1996 | Competitive | SCDOR licenses nonprofit charitable bingo under eight-plus license classes (AA $4,000, B $1,000, C/C-Hard Cards free for volunteer-run games, D-Fair $100-$200, E $500, F $100, and a Catawba Indian Special class at $4,000), plus promoter, paper-manufacturer, electronic-ticket manufacturer and distributor licenses. Nonprofits must be SC-registered for 3+ years with 501(c) status and may hold only one license. Administrative violations are subject to penalties and discretionary license revocation under SCDOR guidelines. | |
| South Dakota | Live | South Dakota requires no state license for charitable bingo or raffles; qualifying organizations (religious, charitable, educational, fraternal, civic, political party, or volunteer fire department/ambulance groups, among others, under SDCL 22-25-25) instead give written notice at least 30 days in advance to the county or municipal governing body where the event is held, and a statewide raffle also requires written notice to the Secretary of State. Raffles are capped at an 18-month duration with mandatory refund notices if not completed (SDCL 22-25-52); bingo card layout is statutorily defined (SDCL 22-25-23); conducting an unauthorized lottery or raffle is a Class 2 misdemeanor (SDCL 22-25-26). A 2012 Attorney General opinion (No. 12-03) permits multi-site simulcast bingo with pooled prizes across qualifying organizations. | |||
| Tennessee | Live | Monopoly State | Qualifying 501(c)(3)/501(c)(19) nonprofits may hold one "game of chance" fundraising event per annual event period (July 1-June 30, after a Jan. 31 application deadline on Form SS-6069, $10 fee), administered by the Secretary of State's Division of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming. Continuous-existence requirement in Tennessee is stated as 5 years by secondary compliance guides; the SOS's own FAQ language (not independently fetched, sos.tn.gov blocked) was reported elsewhere as 3 years with statutory exceptions, so this detail is flagged as unresolved between sources rather than asserted. Reported prize caps: $250,000 for a single-location event (real property exempt) and $150,000 for a multiple-location event. Violations can lead to disqualification or civil penalties after notice and a right to an administrative hearing. | ||
| Texas | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo authorized under the Bingo Enabling Act (Occupations Code Ch. 2001); raffles authorized for qualified nonprofits under the Charitable Raffle Enabling Act. Regulation transferred from the Texas Lottery Commission to TDLR effective 2025-09-01 under SB 3070. | ||
| Vermont | Live | Monopoly State | Limited to licensed break-open ("pickle card"/jar) tickets. Manufacturers ($3,000/yr) and distributors ($2,000/yr) are licensed by the Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery; only qualifying nonprofits may purchase and resell tickets, and net proceeds must go to charitable, religious, educational, or civic purposes. 13 V.S.A. §2143 separately addresses nonprofit gaming exceptions in the criminal code. | ||
| Virginia | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo, raffles, pull-tabs, electronic pull tabs and Texas Hold'em tournament fundraisers regulated by VDACS/OCRP; bingo single-game prize capped at $100, jackpots at $1,000, raffle prizes at $100,000. | ||
| Washington | Live | Not a state tax; local-option under RCW 9.46.110. Bingo and raffles capped at 5% of gross receipts minus prizes; charitable/nonprofit punchboards and pull-tabs capped at 10% of gross receipts minus cash/merchandise prizes; amusement games capped at 2% of gross receipts minus prizes (collections also capped at enforcement cost). A Whatcom County ordinance illustrates actual local rates: 5% of net receipts for commercial punchboard/pull-tab operators, 2% for bona fide charitable/nonprofit operators. OTHER (retail) | Bingo, raffles, and charitable/nonprofit punch boards and pull-tabs are licensed by WSGC. Local jurisdictions may levy gambling taxes under RCW 9.46.110, which caps rates by activity: bingo and raffles at 5% of gross receipts minus prizes; punchboards/pull-tabs run by bona fide charitable/nonprofit operators at 10% of gross receipts minus cash/merchandise prizes; amusement games at 2% of gross receipts minus prizes (collections additionally capped at enforcement cost). A Whatcom County ordinance illustrates actual local rates: 5% of net receipts for commercial punchboard/pull-tab operators, reduced to 2% for bona fide charitable/nonprofit operators. | ||
| West Virginia | Live | Monopoly State | Charitable bingo (ch. 47, art. 20) and raffles (art. 21) are licensed activities; a 2019 bill (HB 2932) proposed transferring licensing/regulation of both from the State Tax Commissioner to the State Lottery Commission, and a 2021 enrolled bill authorized charitable/public-service organizations to conduct bingo and raffles virtually over the internet, capping administrative expenses at 40% of gross proceeds; whether the 2019 transfer to the Lottery Commission was itself enacted was not independently confirmed in this research pass. Older bingo-license fee tiers ($500 standard / $200 nonprofit under $20,000 gross / $50 senior-citizen groups) and a residency/membership requirement for bingo workers were identified from a 1995/2003 bill text but not re-verified against the current code. | ||
| Wisconsin | Live | Office of Charitable Gaming issues roughly 13,000 raffle licenses and licenses about 350 bingo organizations annually (over 7,000 bingo occasions/year). Raffle original license application fee $50, bingo occasion fee $20 (effective 7/3/2025); a clerical statute error kept the raffle renewal fee at $25 despite a nominal $50 increase, with refunds issued for overpayments collected July 2025-March 2026. Fees confirmed on audit (2026-10-10) directly against primary statute text - Wis. Stat. § 563.13(4) ("A license fee of $20 for each bingo occasion ... and an annual license fee of $10 for the designated member responsible for the proper utilization of gross receipts"); § 563.92(2) ("The fee shall be $50 for a raffle license"). No fixed statutory minimum player age exists for bingo - Wis. Stat. § 563.51(13)(a) permits a minor to play a bingo game if an adult relative/guardian is present, and § 563.51(13)(b) only bars a minor from conducting or assisting in the conduct of bingo; subch. VIII (raffles) contains no separate age restriction on raffle ticket purchasers. | |||
| Wyoming | Live | Monopoly State | Bingo and pull-tab games are statutorily restricted to charitable/nonprofit organizations existing in Wyoming 3+ years and, since July 1, 2020, licensed by the Gaming Commission under §11-25-104(n); at least 65% of gross sales must be paid out monthly, with caps on supplier and non-charitable use of net proceeds. Charitable raffles are excluded from the gambling definition entirely and need no state license (100% of net proceeds after expenses must go to charity, per Commission FAQ guidance). | ||
| Alabama | Limited | Hybrid | Charitable bingo is legal only in counties/municipalities with their own local constitutional amendment (a patchwork, not a general state law); e.g., Greene County's amendment, approved by voters Nov. 4, 2003, authorizes nonprofit "bingo games." The Alabama Supreme Court has held that electronic bingo machines exceed what such local amendments authorize. Raffles and traditional paper bingo for noncommercial charitable purposes were the subject of a 2025 bill (HB47) to amend Section 65; status of that bill not confirmed in this review. | ||
| District of Columbia | Limited | Monopoly State | Bingo, raffles, and Monte Carlo night parties organized for educational and charitable purposes are permitted and regulated by OLG; general lottery/gambling prohibitions otherwise reserve such activities to the District. | ||
| Georgia | Limited | Only nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations may hold a bingo license (issued by the Georgia Secretary of State, $100/year, 12 months' prior existence required); a narrow one-time annual exception exists for nonprofit schools. Charitable raffles are also permitted. | |||
| Kansas | Limited | KRGC's own public guidance states that wagering-based fundraisers — explicitly including "raffles" and "poker games" — are illegal in Kansas, and lists only non-wager alternatives (silent auctions, dunk tanks, bake sales, etc.) for nonprofit fundraising. This suggests charitable bingo/raffle gaming is far more restricted in Kansas than in most states; specific bingo-licensing statute (if any) was not located this session. | |||
| Hawaii | Prohibited | Unlike most states, Hawaii carves out no exception for charitable bingo, raffles, or pull-tabs; the administrative rule states that "any operation of, or participation in, gambling activities as defined in part III of chapter 712" is prohibited, with no charitable carve-out identified. | |||
| Utah | Prohibited | The statutory "lottery" definition expressly includes a "raffle" or "gift enterprise" by whatever name; Utah has no charitable-gaming exemption for bingo, raffles, or pull-tabs. |