yy 7 \ M Page M18 April 18, 1990. This Week Continued from Page M3 money that primarily attracts bingo players. The maximum a bingo opera- tor can pay out in prize money is 60 per cent of what is taken in. The 711 Bingo Emporium pays 57.5 per cent of its take on every game. If 100 cards are sold for a game, the prize is $57.50. There are special games scheduled, when the place is busy, with prizes as high as $1,000. The regulars know when the big stake games are played and they make a point of being there. Lynn estimates that as much as 75 per cent of the hall sales are from regular, repeat custom- ers. A great deal of care is taken to ensure there is no cheating. The use of TY monitor system makes it virtually impossible to mis- appropriate bingo funds. Lynn said a tight system of auditing ensures there is no cheating. “There's no way that a staff member can beat the house. There’s no way that the house can beat the custom- ers. Nobody in this house can get beaten. Every charity in here knows that everything is audited. We pur- chase the cards from the government. They’re serialized and sequentialized. We must account for every card in and every card out.” Lynn points out that of the $5.1 million taken in sales last year — most of it in small bills — only three dollars was unaccounted for at the end of the fiscal year. Bingo parlors, as we know them today in British Columbia, have been around for approximately five years. The rules, are constantly being fine tuned but for the most part, they were formulated after the formation of the B.C. Gaming Commission four years ago. “They has to do a lot of research before they could start making sweep- ing changes. They're very observant. They've done a wonderful job,” says Lynn. “The commission is the best thing that has happened to bingo. We in the bingo business in British Co- lumbia — the patrons and the chari- ties — know that we are the most strictly regulated in North America. That's for the betterment of the play- ers and the protection of the socie- ties.” The inception of the modern bingo hall in B.C. approximately five years ago was rocky, to say the least. There were misconceptions that caused ma- ny charitable groups to resist the idea at first. “The misconception was that they were putting a lot of charities out of business. They weren't. What they in fact were doing was encompassing a lot of charities that were working the small halls. It gave them an opportu- nity, because of the higher dollar volume, to make even more money for their society. ” There are still many bingos run by individual groups such as the Lang- ford Legion or the Garth Homer Centre. Lynn said commercial bingo hall owners gave existing bingo opera- tors first crack at coming under wing of the so called commercial bingo TOP STORY halls. Lynn got professionally involved in bingo five years ago when he was president of the Juan de Fuca Minor Hockey Association. The group had a bingo program in the Langford Legion which earned approximately $9,000 per year. The owner of the Colwood Bingo Palace approached him to hold the hockey organization’s bingos at the hall. He told the group that it could make $1,500 per night for 30 nights. “Well, I was going to be the big hero and make twice as much money. Well, after four weeks we had only made $900 so I figured I’d better learn something about this. I took a look at the rules and regulation, found out what you could and couldn’t do, pro- moted the daylights out of the thing and we ended up with packed rooms on our nights.” Lynn was a volunteer who didn’t get paid for his efforts. Other groups, seeing the success on his group’s bingos, started asking him to manage theirs for a fee. “All of sudden I was in the bingo business.” Lynn, whose original expertise was in the design and furnishing of mo- tels, hotels, pubs and restaurants was approached by the owners of th Johnson Street premise to design theg “ultimate bingo parlor.” : He accepted the job and was subse-§ quently hired by the City Bingo Asso-B ciation to run their programs. liynn says he enjoys his job. “I love it. I love the challenge. I lov meeting the people. It’s a good feelin to know that you're doing somethi constructive because you're makin the maximum amount of dollars yous can for charity to put back into thege community. It is challenging —& there’s no doubt about it.’ a tradition in fine dining - serving superb samplings of french, dutch, german cusine - next authentic indonesian rijst-tafel tuesday, april 30th - on route to buchart gardens - join us for dinner mon. - sat. 5 to 11 p.m. 479-2123 4496 west saanich major cards accepted ten dollars dinner for when you and a companion order 2 dinner entrees from our regular menu = one coupon psr couple * not valid on indonesian coupon you will recieve towards two night or other special event evenings. Mail To: expires april 30/90 coupon This Week wants to help you plan Next Week Put us on your mailing list for announcements of upcoming events that are regional in nature and we'll do our best to include them in our calendar section at no charge. Your submissions should be as concise as possible and type- written to facilitate processing. Don’t forget to include a phone number where you can be reached should we require further information. Sorry, we cannot accept announce- ments by telephone. This Week/Events Suite-30 727 Johnson St. Victoria, V8W 1M9 INVITATION TO LAW DAY Sunday, April 22, 1990 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Law Courts — 850 Burdett Ave. This year’s theme: Law and the Environment Enjoy mock trials, courthouse tours, displays and more. “FREE ADMISSION”