BINGO LICENSES; FEE WAIVERS                                                                                                                                       S.B. 126:

                                                                                                                                                                                                      SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                                                                                                        REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

Senate Bill 126 (as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:   Senator Kevin Daley

Committee:   Regulatory Reform

CONTENT

The bill would amend the Traxler-McCauley-Law-Bowman Bingo Act to prohibit the Commissioner of State Lottery from charging a license fee for a large bingo license for the 2021 licensing year if the applicant held a large bingo license in the 2020 licensing year.

Generally, the Act allows the Commissioner to issue one or more of the listed licenses, including a large bingo license, to an applicant, if the Commissioner determines that the applicant is a qualified organization, is not ineligible to receive the license, and has paid to the Bureau of State Lottery the applicable license fee. The fee for a large bingo license is $150. "Large bingo" means a series of bingo occasions that occur on a regular basis during which the total value of all prizes awarded for bingo games at a single occasion does not exceed $3,500 and the total value of all prizes awarded for one bingo game does not exceed $1,100, except that a prize awarded through a Michigan progressive jackpot bingo game is not subject to these limitations.

Under the bill, for the 2021 license year, the Commissioner could not charge a license fee for a large bingo license fee if the applicant held a large bingo license for the 2020 licensing year.

MCL 432.104a                                                                                                           Legislative Analyst:   Christian Schmidt

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have a negative fiscal impact on the Michigan State Lottery and no fiscal impact on local units of government. The State Lottery charges $150 for large bingo licenses and, in 2019, issued 516 large bingo licenses. Assuming that the same number were issued in 2020, and that all of these applicants applied for a license in 2021, the bill would amount to a $77,400 loss in fee revenue for the Michigan Lottery. This loss likely would be absorbed by the Michigan Lottery without affecting operations.

Date Completed:   3-17-21                                                                                                       Fiscal Analyst:   Cory Savino

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.