Quarterly Reports Due October 31

If you held a 2018 license at any time during the 3rd quarter 2018 (July, August, September), you MUST submit your LE-21 Quarterly Report form by October 31, 2018. The report covers the period from July 1 through September 30. Reports filed after this date will be assessed a $50 fine.

Please make sure you download and use the correct forms from our website, or use our online system.

In addition, please make sure to provide copies of daily forms for progressive bingo (LE-34a /LE-34b), progressive pull tabs (LE-31a), and progressive raffles (LE-34c). The progressive bingo forms should be updated after each bingo occasion and the pull tab and raffle forms should be updated regularly.

If you have any questions or concerns, contact Lisa Marty at lisa.marty@coloradosos.gov.

2019 Bingo-Raffle Licenses

If you plan to conduct charitable gaming activities in 2019, you can apply for your annual license at any time during 2019 via the online or paper application form (please allow 7-10 working days processing time). This goes for new licenses and renewals. Licenses can be printed directly from the summary page if you apply online (once your filing is accepted) or e-mailed to the organizational e-mail address, if provided, on the paper form. Please review your application before submitting. Visit our forms page to download the paper license application or sign into your account if you wish to apply online. New applicants can start the process from here. Please contact Program Manager Shannon Bee by email at shannon.bee@coloradosos.gov with any questions.

Bingo/Raffle Advisory Board

The Colorado Bingo-Raffle Advisory Board makes recommendations to the Secretary of State's office in its regulation of the charitable gaming sector. All members of the public are encouraged to attend and contribute to this important dialogue. The next meeting is scheduled for:

When: Wednesday, November 14, 2018 from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM

Where: Aspen Room, 1700 Broadway, 3rd floor

If you have any questions, please feel free to send us an email at public.licensing@coloradosos.gov.

Bingo/Raffle Financial Reports.

Our office is committed to using our state-wide reach to provide timely and accurate data to the bingo/raffle community. We use the information you provide on quarterly reports to publish two informative datasets on our website:

• Aggregate revenue report: this report contains a "roll-up" of total revenue, expense, and profit data for charitable gaming in the state.

• Revenue by licensee: this report contains similar information broken down by individual bingo/raffle licensees. We began publishing this report in response to a request from our Bingo/Raffle Advisory Board.

Our website currently contains reports for calendar years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 1st and 2nd quarter 2018. We will update the reports on a quarterly basis.

Manufacturer and Supplier Agent Mandatory Online Filing for Licenses

Starting for 2019 licenses, manufacturer and supplier agent license applications will be required to be submitted electronically. Information for accessing the system for renewals will be sent to each current agent sometime early January 2019, along with a training guide which will also be available on our website, here. Agent licenses can be renewed any time after February 1 for the 2019 license year. If you have any questions or concerns about creating the account or accessing the system once the notification has been sent, please contact Shannon Bee at 303 894 2200 x 6406. New agent applicants can also access the system for the initial submission of the application and creation of your online account here.

E-Filing a Bingo-Raffle License Renewal

Starting November 1, current Bingo-Raffle licensees can renew their licenses for 2019. The Secretary of State encourages groups to file online. If renewing online, the licensee needs to access their online account and use the “renew” link on their account’s summary page. Please do not create a new account as these filings will need to be rejected and resubmitted through your already existing account.

When filing online, the system will only accept credit or debit cards; we do not have ACH or the ability to directly transfer funds from your accounts. The card, however, does not have to be linked directly to the bingo-raffle account. A personal card could be used (we do not retain any card information once the submission is made to our office), and then reimbursed from the bingo-raffle account (we will need adequate descriptions on the schedule A that the reimbursement was for a “loan” to repay the person using their personal card for this payment). Also, the group has the option of obtaining a prepaid card where it can be loaded with the appropriate amount to cover the payment.

Charitable gaming – Net Profitability

The percentage of net profit for charitable gaming generally shows a positive trend in 2018.

We anticipate these numbers will remain constant through the remainder of 2018. The raffle numbers are down slightly from 49% in 2015 to 46% to date in 2018.

You can see more detail on the charitable gaming financial report, in PDF form, on our website.

Games Manager Training

Remember, your organization must have at least one certified Games Manager in order to run charitable games, and we recommend licensees maintain more than one. We continue to offer in-person and online Games Manager training courses.

Sign up for the online eLearning course on our website.

For in-person classes, visit our Games Manager Training page and follow the instructions to sign up for a scheduled class.

The dates/times/places of upcoming Games Manager training classes follow:

Saturday, November 3, 2018 at 9:00 AM. FO Eagles 3898, 1229 S Main, Lamar, CO 81052.

Saturday, November 17, 2018 at 8:30 AM. Knights of Columbus 4209, 28 E Montezuma Ave, Cortez, CO 81321

You can also sign up to host a Games Manager training course. Follow this link to provide us with a few details about you and your organization, and host a class soon.

The Games Manager mail-in certification exam is no longer available.

E-Filing Quarterly - Do Not Include Paper Report

If filing your quarterly report via the online system, please note that you DO NOT need to attach a copy of the completed paper LE-21 quarterly report. This becomes confusing and is unnecessary, as all the required information on the paper report should already be included within the electronic report.

You will still need to attach the schedule A-distribution of proceeds, any required daily reports, and any ACH or records of payments for credit cards, we just do not need or want the paper quarterly attached in the attachments field when filing the report electronically. Please contact our office with any questions or concerns.

Investigator Tips

Each quarter, we include a few tips from our Bingo/Raffle Investigators. They gather a lot of information in the field on where licensees have trouble complying with the law. By sharing this information, we hope that licensees can better serve their customers.

AN URGENT MESSAGE FROM THE INVESTIGATORS:

We are finding that licensees that conduct pull tabs in the bar/clubroom are removing money from pull tab sales and directly replenishing their pull tab cash fund without depositing the proceeds. The licensees should be depositing all proceeds and writing a check to the pull tab bank to replenish that bank.

Per CRS 24-21-622 (3) (a) All money collected or received from the sale of admission, extra regular cards, special game cards, sale of supplies, and all other receipts from the games of bingo, raffles, and pull tab games shall be deposited in a special checking or savings account, or both, of the licensee, which must contain only this money. If the licensee conducts progressive games of chance, the licensee may maintain one additional checking or savings account, which must contain only money received from the sale of progressive games. The licensee may withdraw money from these accounts only by consecutively numbered checks or withdrawal slips or by electronic transactions referenced by transaction number or date. A check or withdrawal slip must not be drawn to "cash" or a fictitious payee.

You can access all bingo/raffle laws using our Bingo-Raffles Law Handbook.