garfield Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 Do they allow pull-tabs in California? "Bingo Expenses Netted w/Revenue" may be a way to move out income you are required to book when a patron plays back their pull-tab winning (i.e. turns in a winning tab for new pull-tabs). While technically income, the played back tab brings in no actual cash. Yes, pull-tabs are allowed. I saw a reference to that effect either in the numbers or on that review site where players made comments. When I think pull-tab, I think of that ppppsssssttttttt sound when you open a can of beer. :tongue:/> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFPDrums Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 "Fran! You're not keeping up!" (whacking your knuckles with a ruler in my best Catholic-school-mother voice.) It's BINGO, baby! I faintly recall the newpaper stories about BD's battle with the Indian Gaming conglomerats and, apparently, they ramped up their operation after holding off that competition. I don't know how long that battle waged, but I'd bet the legal costs were massive. I'd bet the management of BD thinks that the war is never over with the government supported Indian gaming co-ops and that they could face the same competition again in the future. While researching the gaming war that BD was in, I found this funny review website: http://www.yelp.com/...go-hall-concord. (Be sure to click on the reviewer's pictures.) As we'll see in a bit in BD Expenses, they're paying a guy to run gaming and, it appears, their operation is exceptionally well run. I was looking for that same story, I remember reading it somewhere, but I ran across this little tid-bit. http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_21998019/pleasant-hill-rejects-blue-devils-bingo-parlor From this story we can assume that BD lost money from a bingo hall that closed in that location in 2009, and that there were reported thefts at the location. Could this be some of the equipment and other expenses for those years? Was the location closed because of the expenses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 (edited) I was looking for that same story, I remember reading it somewhere, but I ran across this little tid-bit. http://www.contracos...ls-bingo-parlor From this story we can assume that BD lost money from a bingo hall that closed in that location in 2009, and that there were reported thefts at the location. Could this be some of the equipment and other expenses for those years? Was the location closed because of the expenses? Wow, that story was printed this month! Anyone know if this is a second hall? Ahh, Sacramento. This must have been a second hall with their primary site located in Concord? Edited November 24, 2012 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFPDrums Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 OK, this one bothers me, and has done so since I posted it about an hour ago (I'm waiting for the Buckeyes to kick some Michigan butt and it's snowing. What else am I to do?) This doesn't feel like a fair way to compare "efficiency". After all, something like 93% of the revenue from Bingo gets paid out to gamers, which is not spent on the Program (corps) expenses. Looked at another way, if BD paid out all but a dollar of Bingo revenue as prizes, would it be fair to compare the $15-million to other corps with smaller gross income? I'm not sure how to address this, but my hunch is to look at Program Revenue, not gross revenue, as a starting point, then calculating the ratio of expenses to that. Probably Program Revenue divided by Program Expenses. Maybe the brain trust has a thought? Do they count all the money they take in on a given bingo night, or do they count the money at the end of the night after all pay outs are done? I have never had any dealings in bingo, but if they only record actual money gained it could make up for discrepancies (ie people spend 10k at bingo, 6k in prizes are won, BD records a gain of 4k after doors close). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFPDrums Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Wow, that story was printed this month! Anyone know if this is a second hall? Also there are dozens of stories involving thefts of items from the bingo hall(s). This may be in the expenses somewhere. I remember hearing stories about some of the unfortunate things that have happened at and to the bingo halls in my year at the corps, but all second hand and I didn't really pry... was busy sweating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 (edited) This is a good spot to insert a comment about bingo. The 2010 990 shows the Gaming Manager is a gentleman by the name of Bret Rios, and they paid him $70,000 to run what looks like the entire operation. UPDATE: 2011: Bret Rios' salary was $90,000 The notes also describe a relationship with a local high school to provide volunteers to operate the bingo operation. The number was something like $38,000. Net gaming revenue in 2010 was $759,192. I suspect I'm not including all the expenses, but if the Management and General expenses only consume about 14% of revenue I'd guess that would be considered quite efficient, indeed. Looks like Mr. Rios is worth his salary in spades, but I have no reference to other non-profit's MGE ratios. Edited April 18, 2013 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 (edited) Do they count all the money they take in on a given bingo night, or do they count the money at the end of the night after all pay outs are done? I have never had any dealings in bingo, but if they only record actual money gained it could make up for discrepancies (ie people spend 10k at bingo, 6k in prizes are won, BD records a gain of 4k after doors close). Don't know how they count the money at the door, but the 990 shows Gross Revenue, Less Direct Expenses, and the resulting Net is shown under Gaming "Revenue Excluded from Tax under IRC 512, 513, 514". Those sections of the Internal Revenue Code deal with unrelated business non-taxable income. In 2010 it looked like this: Gross income from gaming activities: $12,221,116 Less Direct Expenses: $11,461,924 Net income from gaming activities: $759,192 UPDATE 2011: Gross income from gaming activities: $12,733,408 Less Direct Expenses: $11,945,046 Net income from gaming activities: $788,362 Edited April 18, 2013 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 (edited) I think you are on the right track there. You should compare the corps on an apples-to-apples basis. There should be bingo metrics for those corps who have bingo, and program metrics for all corps. Bingo metrics are squirrely because the top-line revenue is very large for a legally-required tiny net income percentage. That percentage varies by state, I believe, which further distorts any comparison you can make. Actually, I think there are only two bingo metrics that matter: 1 - The net amount of cash the operation provides to it's umbrella non-profit organization. Possibly you could look at two sub-metrics, but they are probably not available in 990's a) Total revenue less payouts. In many cases payouts are treated as negative income, rather than expenses when looking at a P&L. This is a more informative measure of income actually available to the organization after the legal payouts are met b) The net from a), less expenses. This can give you a more interesting operational comparison 2 - A simple "yes / no" answer to the following question: Do you run your own bingo operation? If the answer is "No", that should be viewed as a negative. The companies that run bingo halls for their own personal profit and then give a miniscule fraction of a percentage to a non-profit that is related in name only to the game are, in my opinion, not honest operations. I like the two metric idea, but I'm not so sure it matters for this series. Maybe someone else would like to do a bingo efficiency study. What's important, from my perspective, is how much net profit flows to the Program Expenses. That way we can compare the efficiency of the management using the revenues available to them for the program regardless of the source, bingo or anything else. If someone is getting rich, or supporting themsleves, off of bingo it will show up in the net (not) passed through to the program. Edited November 24, 2012 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoCervantes II Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 2008: PSE: $517,840 2009: PSE: $588,166 2010: PSE: $686,300 Is this the instructional staff or am I off base here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 (edited) "Fran! You're not keeping up!" (whacking your knuckles with a ruler in my best Catholic-school-mother voice.) It's BINGO, baby! I faintly recall the newpaper stories about BD's battle with the Indian Gaming conglomerats and, apparently, they ramped up their operation after holding off that competition. I don't know how long that battle waged, but I'd bet the legal costs were massive. I'd bet the management of BD thinks that the war is never over with the government supported Indian gaming co-ops and that they could face the same competition again in the future. OK... got it. Buy high and sell low. LOL. Man... I went to Catholic grammar and high schools, and you just brought back some chill-down-my-spine memories. Edited November 24, 2012 by Fran Haring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.