1. 96-1011

TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

State of California

DANIEL E. LUNGREN

Attorney General

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OPINION

of

DANIEL E. LUNGREN

Attorney General

CLAYTON P. ROCHE

Deputy Attorney General

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No. 96-1011

December 31, 1998

______________________________________________________________________________

THE HONORABLE TOM McCLINTOCK, MEMBER OF THE CALIFORNIA

ASSEMBLY, has requested an opinion on the following question:

 May a bingo player use an electronic aid in conjunction with traditional bingo cards

to notify him when a game has been won?

CONCLUSION

A bingo player may use an electronic aid in conjunction with traditional bingo cards

to notify him when a game has been won.
 

1 All references hereafter to the Penal Code are by section number only.

 

2 Under section 330c, playing or operating a "punchboard," as a therein defined, is illegal.

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ANALYSIS

In 1976 California voters approved an amendment to the Constitution specifying that

"the Legislature by statute may authorize cities and counties to provide for bingo games, but only for

charitable purposes." (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 19, subd. (c).) The Legislature implemented this

constitutional provision by enacting Penal Code section 326.5.1 The statute authorizes the playing

of bingo where the games are conducted by a specified organization for charitable purposes pursuant

to local ordinance. Subdivision (o) of section 326.5 defines "bingo" as follows:

"As used in this section `bingo' means a game of chance in which prizes are

awarded on the basis of designated numbers or symbols on a card that conform to

numbers or symbols selected at random. Notwithstanding Section 330c, as used in

this section, the game of bingo includes cards having numbers or symbols which are

concealed and preprinted in a manner providing for distribution of prizes. The

winning cards shall not be known prior to the game by any person participating in the

playing or operation of the bingo game. All preprinted cards shall bear the legend,

`for sale or use only in a bingo game authorized under California law and pursuant to

local ordinance.' It is the intention of the Legislature that bingo as defined in this

subdivision applies exclusively to this section and shall not be applied in the

construction or enforcement of any other provision of law."2

In 67 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 528 (1984), we concluded that playing a coin-operated electronic video

machine which displayed a facsimile of a bingo card on its screen was not "bingo" as defined in

section 326.5. In 70 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 304, 308 (1987), we concluded "that an electronic system

of bingo which substitutes a hand computer with stored bingo card matrices for the traditional paper

or cardboard bingo cards does not qualify as bingo within the meaning of section 326.5, subdivision

(o) of the Penal Code." We are now asked to consider whether the use of an electronic aid in

conjunction with traditional bingo cards constitutes the game of bingo as authorized in section 326.5.

We conclude that it does.

In our 1984 opinion, we distinguished between playing video bingo and playing bingo

with traditional cards: ". . . bingo as conducted . . . with cards . . . is an open and simple game not

easily manipulated. The operation of video game bingo would not be subject to similar scrutiny and

protection." (67 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen., supra, at 532.)

Similarly, the basis for our 1987 opinion was that the bingo players would not be given

traditional cards as required by section 326.5. Rather, each player would have an electronic device

linked to a computer storing 50,000 card configurations. A player could purchase up to 40

configurations, which would be electronically transferred to his hand-held device. A paper copy of
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the serialized configurations purchased by each player would be maintained by the game operator.

The hand-held device would emit a sound when a game was won, and the serial number of the

winning card configuration would be displayed, along with the configuration itself. (70

Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen., supra, at 306.) We stated:

"Section 326.5, subdivision (o) provides as material herein that `[a]s used in

this section "bingo" means a game of chance in which prizes are awarded on the basis

of designated numbers or symbols on a card which conform to numbers or symbols

selected at random." (Emphasis added.) It goes without saying that the handsets at

issue herein do not have thereon `numbers or symbols on a card.' There is no card at

all. It is only through the computer program that electronic representations of bingo

cards may be called-up and displayed on the handset's screen. These representations

are no more bingo cards than persons depicted on a television screen are the persons

themselves.

"Furthermore, the term `card' is not an ambiguous term. Nor is there any

reason to believe that the Legislature, when it enacted section 326.5 in 1976 intended

the term other than in the literal sense. The particular electronic bingo system at issue

herein has been just developed in the last several years. Nor are we aware that

electronic bingo was prevalent in California in 1976 when section 326.5 was enacted.

In short, when the Legislature spoke of `numbers or symbols on a card,' we believe

that it means just that, `on a card,' not buried in a computer somewhere to be

electronically `called-up.'" (Id., at p. 308.)

In the present situation, each player would purchase and receive traditional bingo

cards. The cards would have printed on them the required statement, "`for sale or use only in a bingo

game authorized under California law and pursuant to local ordinance.'" (§ 326.5, subd. (o).) The

electronic aid would be used to notify the player of a winning card. Verification of the winning

combination could thus be based upon the bingo card itself. The electronic aid would not interfere

or interact with the element of chance in the game, but rather would help determine whether a

winning card had been purchased by the player.

As described in section 326.5, subdivision (o), bingo is (1) "a game of chance in which

prizes are awarded," (2) "on the basis of designated numbers or symbols on a card," (3) "that conform

to numbers or symbols selected at random." In our 1984 and 1987 opinions we concluded that there

was no traditional "card," and hence the second element was missing. Here, on the other hand, the

combined use of the electronic aid and traditional cards will allow each player to meet the

requirements of subdivision (o), since the "designated numbers or symbols" are "on a card" as well

as being programmed into the electronic aid.

We believe that when bingo players purchase and receive traditional bingo cards, the

use of electronic aids in conjunction therewith to ascertain when a game has been won does not

remove the game from the scope of section 326.5. The courts have ruled similarly in somewhat
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analogous situations. (See Lubavitch Congregation v. City of Long Beach (1990) 217 Cal.App.3d

1388; People v. 8,000 Punchboard Card Devices (1983) 142 Cal.App.3d 618.)

We conclude that the requirements of section 326.5, subdivision (o), are satisfied when

bingo players use, in conjunction with traditional bingo cards, electronic aids to notify them when a

game has been won. 

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