O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 16-12-52 (2019)

License required to operate bingo game; recreational bingo exception

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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(a) Any other law to the contrary notwithstanding except for subsection (b) of this Code section, no nonprofit, tax-exempt organization shall be permitted to operate a bingo game until the Secretary of State issues a license to the organization authorizing it to do so. In the event of any controversy concerning whether or not certain activity constitutes bingo for which a license may be issued, the decision of the Secretary of State shall control. The license described in this Code section is in

OFFENSES/HEALTH & MORALS addition to and not in lieu of any other licenses which may be required by this state or any political subdivision thereof, and no bingo game shall be operated until such time as all requisite licenses have been obtained.

(b) Recreational bingo is a nonprofit bingo game or a bingo game operated by an employer with ten or more full-time employees for the purpose of providing a safe workplace incentive and shall not be subject to the licensing requirements and regulations provided in this part applicable to bingo games not considered recreational bingo and operated by nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations.

History

Ga. L. 1977, p. 1164, § 2; Ga. L. 1980, p. 422, § 2; Ga. L. 1993, p. 535, § 3; Ga. L.

1994, p. 490, § 2; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1002, § 2; Ga. L. 2021, p. 394, § 2/HB 410.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Georgia Constitution does not preclude imposition of license requirement. St. John’s Melkite Catholic Church v. Commissioner of Revenue, 240 Ga. 733, 242 S.E.2d 108, 1978 Ga. LEXIS 816 (1978). Licensing requirement does not unreasonably burden right to operate bingo games. - Since licensing requirement does not unreasonably

burden right to operate bingo games by placing unreasonable restrictions on granting of licenses, there is no conflict between Ga. L. 1977, p. 1164, § 2 and Ga. Const. 1976, Art. I, Sec. II, Para. XI (see now Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Para. VIII). St. John’s Melkite Catholic Church v. Commissioner of Revenue, 240 Ga. 733, 242 S.E.2d 108, 1978 Ga. LEXIS 816 (1978).