A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to increase the licensing fee and prize limits for charitable bingo.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 14‑309.7(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	An exempt organization may not operate a bingo game at a location without a license. Application for a bingo license shall be made to the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety on a form prescribed by the Department. The Department shall charge an annual application fee of two hundred dollars ($200.00) to defray the cost of issuing bingo licenses and handling bingo audit reports. The fees collected shall be deposited in the General Fund of the State. This license shall expire one year after the granting of the license. This license may be renewed yearly, if the applicant pays the application fee and files an audit with the Department pursuant to G.S. 14‑309.11. A copy of the application and license shall be furnished to the local law‑enforcement agency in the county or municipality in which the licensee intends to operate before bingo is conducted by the licensee."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 14‑309.9(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The maximum prize in cash or merchandise that may be offered or paid for any one game of bingo is one thousand dollars ($1,000). The maximum aggregate amount of prizes, in cash and/or merchandise, that may be offered or paid at any one session of bingo is three thousand dollars ($3,000). Provided, however, that if an exempt organization holds only one session of bingo during a calendar week, the maximum aggregate amount of prizes, in cash and/or merchandise, that may be offered or paid at any one session is five thousand dollars ($5,000)."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.