BINGO! That’s what you’ll hear when you vote YES on Amendment C to change some out-of-date rules related to charitable BINGO.

The best part about Amendment C is that a YES vote is not a POLITICAL vote. You can encourage your neighbor of opposite political party to vote YES on Amendment C. You can encourage your church friends to vote YES on Amendment C because religious charitable groups, along with Veterans of Foreign Wars, are some of the most prominent beneficiaries of Colorado BINGO.

The only reason that a vote on BINGO is necessary is because BINGO is in our state constitution. Constitutional BINGO has a tradition that separates charitable BINGO from gambling and includes many other states such as New York, California, Oregon, Alabama, Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska.

For some of you Coloradans, BINGO may not be your first entertainment of choice. But for thousands of Coloradans, not only is it entertainment, it’s a terrific night out to support charitable organizations such as youth sports, schools, churches, and veterans’ groups. Prize money for regular BINGO games can run up to $2000/session. Progressive games can cook up to $15,000.

Amendment C will change the Colorado Constitution. First, it will allow nonprofits to get a bingo license after three years of operations. Currently, nonprofits have to operate for five years before they’re eligible to run BINGO. Second, the amendment will allow game runners to receive up to minimum wage.

Under the current constitutional rules, BINGO game runners must be volunteers. Wrangling volunteers to run Saturday night games, for example, is an ongoing struggle. The minimum wage option gives charities more flexibility and, as Rich Lemon, president of the Colorado Charitable Bingo Association (CCBA), notes, no one will get rich running BINGO games.

Lemon provides the BINGO game cards and accessories to charities who then lease sessions from the parlors who advertise and provide seating and refreshments for the games. Paul Vigil owns Barrys Bingo. He loves what he does because his parlor provides fun, lively entertainment for families, often including several generations. He has watched grandparents bring their grandkids. The grandkids grow up and their children then play BINGO at his parlor with their grandparents. They play multiple cards. They yell BINGO together when they get their line of 5 buttons in a row.

Holly Wogoman, BINGO manager for The Academy of Charter Schools Community Relations Pre-K-12 school in Westminster, lives and breathes BINGO. She played BINGO with her grandmother as a kid when Bertha (Penny) Butcher ran BINGO for the VFW. Butcher has passed away, but now Pam Mena, grandmother, and Maxim Wogoman, grandson, play together at Oasis BINGO.

“We’re in our sixth year of BINGO and have built up our earnings to $100,000/year,” Wogoman says. It took the Academy some time, but now BINGO supports school clubs including robotics, softball and baseball, the school’s music program, and scholarships for children to attend Outdoor Ed.

“One great benefit,” says Wogoman, “is what the kids learn when they volunteer to help with the games.” Students gain experience in how to manage money, deliver customer service, and deal with difficult issues.

BINGO has bumped up against the limits of the current constitutional rules. CCBA president Lemon says it’s time for BINGO to change, to expand the number of charities that can participate and make it easier for nonprofits to run the games.

BINGO, says Lemon, puts the fun in fundraising. It’s not gambling. It’s a game of chance that everyone in the game agrees sends significant revenue to nonprofits without the usual begging and pleading.

Here are your chances. For every person who votes YES for Amendment C, you’ve already won. If you go to a BINGO parlor to play the game, every BINGO number has the same chance of being drawn. It’s the most democratic game.

Amendment C is the ultimate grassroots, low-impact, great-benefit constitutional amendment. For Amendment C, every square is a YES vote, so that’s a BINGO.