Bingo was legalized in Pennsylvania on this week in Philly history

The stampers were runnin’ wild, and state officials wanted their piece.

So it was time to crack down on the ping-pong-ball pullers.

On July 10, 1981, Republican Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh signed the Bingo Law.

The bill, which took effect on Nov. 9 of that year, would ensure the popular game remained a tool of charitable groups and remained small-stakes operations. This new law limited prize money to $250 (about $920 today) per game, $2,000 (about $7,300 today) for a so-called jackpot game, and $4,000 (about $14,700 today) in total for any one day.

The bill also specified that only nonprofits that had been existence for at least two years could host the games, and that they could do so no more than twice a week.

Traditionally, bingo games were put on by charitable associations — think church groups and senior centers — that were legitimate nonprofits. Still, it was a prohibited form of gambling, and law enforcement across the state chose to ignore this fact and instead allowed the parlor game to thrive.

The bill, Thornburgh told The Inquirer in 1981, would “end this hypocrisy.”

He added, however, that he was not “convinced that this is the absolute, ideal bill,” and that his administration would continue working with the General Assembly “to ensure that some of the loopholes that have been alleged to exist are addressed.”

The bill-pushers were pumped. Legalizing bingo, they told anyone who would listen, would protect charitable foundations, civic groups, and legitimate nonprofits from what an Inquirer reporter called “unscrupulous bingo entrepreneurs.” It would, theoretically, keep those groups from having to pay taxes on the raised money, and keep it out of organized crime’s reach.

But the bingo bill had noisy detractors, like future Philly Mayor Ed Rendell, then the district attorney, who astutely pointed out that the bill would allow anyone to organize a nonprofit and run bingo games. The bill did not provide much enforcement infrastructure, either.

Today, bingo licenses run $100 for a year, or $15 for a three-day stint.

The state only takes check or money order.