§ 475. Short title; purpose of article. This article shall be known
and may be cited as the bingo licensing law. The legislature hereby
declares that the raising of funds for the promotion of bona fide
charitable, educational, scientific, health, religious, civic and
patriotic causes and undertakings, where the beneficiaries are
indefinite, is in the public interest. It hereby finds that, as
conducted prior to the enactment of this article, bingo was the subject
of exploitation by professional gamblers, promoters, and commercial
interests. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the legislature
that all phases of the supervision, licensing and regulation of bingo
and of the conduct of bingo games, should be closely controlled and that
the laws and regulations pertaining thereto should be strictly construed
and rigidly enforced; that the conduct of the game and all attendant
activities should be so regulated and adequate controls so instituted as
to discourage commercialization in all its forms, including the rental
of commercial premises for bingo games, and to ensure a maximum
availability of the net proceeds of bingo exclusively for application to
the worthy causes and undertakings specified herein; that the only
justification for this article is to foster and support such worthy
causes and undertakings, and that the mandate of section nine of article
one of the state constitution, as amended, should be carried out by
rigid regulation to prevent commercialized gambling, prevent
participation by criminal and other undesirable elements and prevent the
diversion of funds from the purposes herein authorized.