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The council hereby declares that the raising of funds for the promotion of bona fide charitable, educational, scientific, health, religious, and patriotic causes and undertakings, where the beneficiaries are undetermined, is in the public interest. It hereby finds that, as conducted prior to the enactment of this subchapter, games of chance were the subject of exploitation by professional gamblers, promoters and commercial interests. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the council that all phases of supervision, licensing and regulation of games of chance and the conduct of games of chance should be closely controlled and that the local laws and regulations pertaining thereto should be strictly construed and rigidly enforced; that the conduct of the games and all attendant activities should be so regulated and adequate controls so instituted as to discourage commercialization in all its forms, including the rental of commercial premises for games of chance, and to ensure a maximum availability of the net proceeds of games of chance exclusively for application to the worthy causes and undertakings specified herein; that the only justification for this subchapter is to foster and support such worthy causes and undertakings, and that the mandate of section nine of article one of the state constitution, as amended, and of article nine-A of the general municipal law, should be carried out by rigid regulations to prevent commercialized gambling, prevent participation by criminal and other undesirable elements and prevent the diversion of funds from the purposes herein authorized.
As used in this subchapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
1. "Board" shall mean New York state gaming commission.
2. "Games of chance" shall mean and include only the games known as "merchandise wheels", "coin boards", "merchandise boards", "seal cards", "event games", "raffles", and "bell jars" and such other specific games as may be authorized by the board, in which prizes are awarded on the basis of a designated winning number or numbers, color or colors, symbol or symbols determined by chance, but not including games commonly known as "bingo or lotto" which are controlled under article fourteen-H of the general municipal law and also not including "slot machines", "bookmaking", "lottery", and "policy or numbers games" as defined in section 225.00 of the penal law. No game of chance shall involve wagering of money by one player against another player.
3. "Authorized organization" shall mean and include any bona fide religious or charitable organization or bona fide educational or service organization or bona fide organization of veterans or volunteer firefighters, which by its charter, certificate of incorporation, constitution, or act of the legislature, shall have among its dominant purposes one or more of the lawful purposes as defined in this subchapter, provided that each shall operate without profit to its members, and provided that each such organization has engaged in serving one or more of the lawful purposes as defined in this subchapter for a period of three years immediately prior to applying for a license under this subchapter. No organization shall be deemed an authorized organization which is formed primarily for the purpose of conducting games of chance and the distribution of the proceeds thereof to itself or any other organization and which does not devote at least seventy-five percent of its activities to other purposes set forth in this subdivision. No political party shall be deemed an authorized organization.
4. "Lawful purposes" shall mean one or more of the following causes, deeds or activities:
(a) Those which shall benefit needy or deserving persons indefinite in number by enhancing their opportunity for religious or educational advancement, by relieving them from disease, suffering or distress, or by contributing to their physical well-being, by assisting them in establishing themselves in life as worthy and useful citizens, or by increasing their comprehension of a devotion to the principles upon which this nation was founded and enhancing their loyalty to their governments.
(b) Those which shall initiate, perform or foster worthy public works or shall enable or further the erection or maintenance of public structures;
(c) Those which shall otherwise lessen the burdens borne by government or which are voluntarily undertaken by an authorized organization to augment or supplement services which government would normally render to the people, including, in the case of volunteer firefighters or voluntary emergency medical service activities, the purchase, erection or maintenance of a building for a firehouse or a volunteer ambulance corps building, activities open to the public for the enhancement of membership and the purchase of equipment that can reasonably be expected to increase the efficiency of response to fires, accidents, medical emergencies, public calamities and other emergencies.
(d) Those which shall initiate, perform or foster the provisions of services to veterans by encouraging the gathering of such veterans and shall enable or further the erection or maintenance of facilities for use by such veterans which shall be used primarily for charitable or patriotic purposes, or those purposes which shall be authorized by a bona fide organization of veterans, provided however that such proceeds are disbursed pursuant to section 189 of the general municipal law.
5. "Net proceeds" shall mean (a) in relation to the gross receipts from one or more occasions of games of chance, the amount that shall remain after deducting the reasonable sums necessarily and actually expended for supplies and equipment, prizes, stated rental if any, bookkeeping or accounting services according to a schedule of compensation prescribed by the board, janitorial services and utility supplies if any, license fees, and the cost of bus transportation, if authorized by the board and (b) in relation to the gross rent received by an organization licensed to conduct such games for the use of its premises by another licensee, the amount that shall remain after deducting the reasonable sums necessarily and actually expended for janitorial services and utility supplies directly attributable thereto if any.
6. "Net lease" shall mean a written agreement between a lessor and lessee under the terms of which the lessee is entitled to the possession, use or occupancy of the whole or part of any premises from any non-commercial or non-profit authorized games of chance lessor for which the lessee pays rent to the lessor and likewise undertakes to pay substantially all of the regularly recurring expenses incident to the operation and maintenance of such leased premises.
7. "Authorized games of chance lessor" shall mean an authorized organization which has been granted a lessor's license pursuant to the provisions of this subchapter.
8. Reserved.
9. "Authorized supplier of games of chance equipment" shall mean any person, firm, partnership or organization licensed by the board to sell or lease games of chance equipment or paraphernalia which meets the specifications and regulations established by the board. Nothing herein shall prevent an authorized organization from purchasing common articles, such as cards and dice, from normal sources of supply of such articles or from constructing equipment and paraphernalia for games of chance for its own use. However, no such equipment or paraphernalia constructed by an authorized organization shall be sold or leased to any other authorized organization without written permission from the board.
10. "One occasion" shall mean the conducting of any one type of game of chance during any one license period. Except for raffles conducted during professional and collegiate sporting competitions, no series of prizes on any one occasion shall aggregate more than one thousand dollars. For purposes of raffles conducted during professional and collegiate sporting competitions, "one occasion" shall mean the successive operations of any one such raffle for which the limit on a series of prizes provided by subdivision 6 of section 189 of the general municipal law shall apply.
11. "Licensed period" shall mean a period of time not to exceed 14 consecutive hours and, for purposes of the game of chance known as a raffle, "license period" shall mean a period of time running from January first to December thirty-first of each year.
12. "Sports venue" shall mean a building, structure, or place with a permanent seating capacity of more than five thousand in which professional sporting competitions are held.
13. "Raffle" shall mean and include those games of chance in which a participant pays money in return for a ticket or other receipt and in which a prize is awarded on the basis of a winning number or numbers, color or colors, or symbol or symbols designated on the ticket or receipt, determined by chance as a result of: (a) a drawing from among those tickets or receipts previously sold; or (b) a random event, the results of which correspond with tickets or receipts previously sold.
14. "Single type of game" shall mean the games of chance known as merchandise wheels, coin boards, merchandise boards, event games, raffles and bell jars and each other specific game of chance authorized by the board.
15. "Operation" shall mean the play of a single type of game of chance necessary to determine the outcome or winners each time wagers are made. A single drawing of a winning ticket or other receipt in a raffle shall be deemed one operation.
16. "Single prize" shall mean the sum of money or fair market value of merchandise or coins awarded to a participant by a games of chance licensee in any one operation of a single type of game of chance in excess of their wager.
17. "Series of prizes" shall mean the total amount of single prizes minus the total amount of wagers lost during the successive operations of a single type of game of chance, except that for merchandize wheels and raffles, "series of prizes" shall mean the sum of cash and the fair market value of merchandise awarded as single prizes during the successive operations of any single merchandise wheel or raffle. In the game of raffle, a series of prizes may include a percentage of the sum of cash received from the sale of raffle tickets.
(Am. 2020 N.Y. Laws Ch. 243, 10/7/2020, eff. 10/7/2020; Am. L.L. 2023/060, 5/25/2023, eff. 5/25/2023)
1. No person, firm, association, corporation or organization, other than a licensee under the provisions of this subchapter, shall conduct such game or shall lease or otherwise make available for conducting games of chance a hall or other premises for any consideration whatsoever, direct or indirect, except as provided in section 20-437 of this subchapter.
2. No game of chance shall be held, operated or conducted on or within any leased premises if rental under such lease is to be paid, wholly or partly, on the basis of a percentage of the receipts or net profits derived from the operation of such game.
3. No authorized organization licensed under the provisions of this subchapter shall purchase, lease, or receive any supplies or equipment specifically designed or adapted for use in the conduct of games of chance from other than a supplier licensed by the board or from another authorized organization.
4. The entire net proceeds of any game of chance and of any rental shall be exclusively devoted to the lawful purposes of the organization permitted to conduct the same.
5. No prize shall exceed the sum or value of one hundred dollars in any operation or conducting of a single game of chance as defined in section 20-435 of this subchapter, except for raffles conducted during professional and collegiate sporting competitions at sports venues which shall be subject to the limitations set forth in subdivision 5 of section 189 of the general municipal law. No single wager shall exceed six dollars, provided, however, that such limitation shall not apply to the amount of money or value paid by the participant in a raffle in return for a ticket or other receipt.
6. No series of prizes on any one occasion of games of chance shall aggregate more than one thousand dollars as defined in section 20-435 of this subchapter, except for raffles conducted during professional and collegiate sporting competitions at sports venues, which shall be subject to the limitations set forth in subdivision 6 of section 189 of the general municipal law.
7. No person except a bona fide member of the licensed authorized organization shall participate in the management of such games; no person except a bona fide member of the licensed authorized organization, its auxiliary or affiliated organization, shall participate in the operation of such games, as set forth in section 20-444 of this subchapter.
8. No person shall receive any remuneration for participating in the management or operation of any such game.
9. The unauthorized conduct of a game of chance shall constitute and be punishable as a misdemeanor.
(Am. L.L. 2023/060, 5/25/2023, eff. 5/25/2023)
1. To conduct games of chance.
(a) Each applicant for a license shall, after obtaining an identification number from the board, file with the department, a written application therefor in form to be prescribed by the board, duly executed and verified, in which shall be stated:
(1) the name and address of the applicant together with sufficient facts relating to its incorporation and organization to enable such department to determine whether or not it is a bona fide authorized organization;
(2) the names and addresses of its officers; the place or places where, the date or dates and the time or times when the applicant intends to conduct games under the license applied for;
(3) the amount of rent to be paid or other consideration to be given directly or indirectly for each occasion for use of the premises of another authorized organization licensed under this subchapter to conduct such games or for the use of the premises of an authorized games of chance lessor;
(4) all other items of expense intended to be incurred or paid in connection with the holding, operating and conducting of such games of chance and the names and addresses of the persons to whom, and the purposes for which, they are to be paid;
(5) the purposes to which the entire net proceeds of such games are to be devoted and in what manner; that no commission, salary, compensation, reward or recompense will be paid to any person for conducting such game or games or for assisting therein except as in this subchapter otherwise provided; and such other information as shall be prescribed by such rules and regulations of the board.
(b) In each application there shall be designated not less than four active members of the applicant organization under whom the game or games of chance will be conducted and to the application shall be appended a statement executed by the members so designated, that they will be responsible for the conduct of such games in accordance with the terms of the license, and the rules and regulations of the board and of this subchapter.
2. Authorized games of chance lessor. Each applicant for a license to lease premises to a licensed organization for the purpose of conducting games of chance therein shall file with the department a written application therefor, in a form to be prescribed by the board, duly executed and verified, which shall set forth the name and address of the applicant; designation and address of the premises intended to be covered by the license sought; a statement that the applicant in all respects conforms with the specifications contained in the definition of "authorized organization" set forth in section 20-435 of this subchapter, and such other information as shall be prescribed by the board.
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