MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Gaming
By: Representative Hall
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-33-79, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROHIBIT SHIPMENT INTO THIS STATE OF BINGO CARDS AND BINGO PAPER WITHOUT A MANUFACTURER'S LICENSE; TO AMEND SECTION 97-33-77, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY REGULATION OF BINGO PULL-TABS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-33-79, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-33-79. (1) No
person or other entity shall fabricate, concoct or manufacture any supplies or
equipment for use in the conducting of any bingo game authorized under Sections
97-33-51 through 97-33-203, including, but not limited to, bingo
equipment, pull-tabs, bingo cards, bingo paper or electronic
representations, within this state * * *, for use within this state or shipped
into or mailed into this state without having obtained a manufacturer's
license from the commission.
(2) No person or other entity shall ship or mail into this state, sell, offer for sale, or otherwise furnish any other person any supplies or equipment of use in the conduct of any bingo game authorized under Sections 97-33-51 through 97-33-203, including, but not limited to, bingo equipment, bingo cards, bingo paper and pull-tabs without having obtained a distributor's or operator's license from the commission.
(3) No person licensed as a manufacturer, distributor or operator shall sell, ship, mail or otherwise make available any such gaming supplies or equipment to any individual unless he has first determined that the individual is a licensed distributor or is acting as an agent of an organization which has a valid license issued by the commission.
(4) No manufacturer, distributor or operator of gaming supplies or equipment shall directly or indirectly give gifts, trips, prizes, premiums or other such gratuities to any charitable gaming organization, its employees, or commercial lessors.
(5) Each manufacturer, distributor or operator of gaming supplies or equipment shall maintain records and submit reports as required by rules of the commission. The rules may require maintenance of purchase and sale invoices of all gaming supplies and equipment manufactured or distributed, whether by sale, lease, rental, loan or donation, to any charitable gaming organization.
SECTION 2. Section 97-33-77, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-33-77. (1) No organization, distributor, manufacturer, or any representative thereof, either with knowledge or in circumstances whereunder he reasonably should have known, shall possess, display, put out for play, sell, ship, mail or otherwise furnish to any person any pull-tabs:
(a) In which the winning pull-tabs have not been completely and randomly distributed and mixed among all other pull-tabs in the deal;
(b) In which the location or approximate location of any of the winning pull-tabs can be determined in advance of opening the pull-tabs in any manner or by any device, including but not limited to any pattern in the manufacture, assembly, or packaging of pull-tabs by the manufacturer, by any markings on the pull-tabs or container, or by the hue of a light; or
(c) Which does not conform in any respect to these requirements as to manufacturer, assembly or packaging.
(2) A distributor shall not purchase, ship, mail or be furnished any pull-tabs from a manufacturer of pull-tabs unless all of the following conditions are met:
(a) The manufacturer's label or trademark has been registered with the Mississippi Gaming Commission.
(b) Each individual pull-tab manufactured has conspicuously set forth on it the name of the manufacturer or a label or trademark which identifies its manufacturer.
(c) The pull-tab is of a type approved by the commission for use in Mississippi.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.