Wyoming task force orders bill to ensure raffles send a minimum share to charity

The Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology voted to direct staff to draft legislation tightening Wyoming’s raffle law after members warned that recent statutory language could allow costs to consume charitable proceeds.

Tamara, a committee staff member presenting the statutory background, told the panel the current statute (Wyoming Statute 6-7-101) distinguishes common charitable gaming forms and ties raffle language to "net proceeds after payment of all costs, supplies, and winnings." "With your meeting materials, you have Wyoming Statute 6-7-101," she said, and explained the existing payout framework for bingo and pull tabs and the recent change that uses net proceeds to define charitable raffles.

Committee members said that formulation could be exploited. One lawmaker asked whether an operator could simply claim 99% of receipts as costs and leave no money for charity; staff agreed the language could produce that result and offered that the Calcutta model (which requires a minimum donation percentage of total wagers) was an alternative.

Gaming Commission staff and the commission's director described enforcement experiences with large progressive games commonly called "Queen of Hearts," which the commission has treated as unlawful under current gambling definitions because the secondary progressive game lacks a guaranteed end prize and does not provide equal probability for ticket holders. The director also flagged federal tax-reporting problems at some operations. "We've shut down games that were $130,000 or $160,000 jackpots," the director said.

Brian Gregorich, a Cheyenne bar operator who testified during public comment, described how his Queen of Hearts-style fundraiser (branded Thankful Thursday) directs a portion of receipts to local nonprofits and said the game had raised thousands for community groups. "I've held 378 Thankful Thursday events. Our current total raised for local nonprofits right here in Laramie County is $4,541,000," Gregorich said, urging the committee not to punish legitimate fundraisers.

After discussion about definitions, enforcement, and the Gaming Commission's rule-making authority, a member moved to draft a bill to amend the raffle/drawings subsection so that at least 50% of gross receipts would be directed to a bona fide charitable purpose (or to use language closely mirroring existing bingo provisions). The motion was seconded by a co-chair and passed on a voice vote; the committee recorded four members in favor and one opposed and asked staff to refine the draft to avoid unintended loopholes and to preserve the commission’s ability to adopt implementing rules.

Next steps: staff will prepare bill language that clarifies whether the 50% applies to gross receipts or net proceeds, aligns the definition of "bona fide charitable purpose" with related statutes, and explicitly confers any needed rule-making authority to the Gaming Commission, then return to the committee for review.

The motion to draft the bill was made by Chairman Cole and seconded by Co-chair Lynn Lean; the committee adopted the directive by voice vote (four in favor, one opposed).