This vote will happen on Tuesday, February 5, 2021.  To find out how to contact your representatives and ask them to VOTE NO read on!

To All Moose Members,

We have a major problem in the Virginia General Assembly. Senate Bill 1127 would harm charities who do gaming as we do in our lodge and with bingo. The bill, introduced by Senator Bryce Reeves, would do the following:

1. It STOPS churches and certain other charities from being involved in charitable gaming.
2. It mandates all charitable gaming in SOCIAL QUARTERS be licensed and the charity MUST operate bingo in order to have gaming their social quarters.
3. ALL charitable gaming, INCLUDING what is done in the social quarters, could only be done THREE days a week and ONLY while bingo is being conducted.
4. The portion of the tax for charitable gaming kept by the state would TRIPLE.

Our Lodges, Chapters, and Legions must rally to fight this bill and we need our members to help fight this. You can use the link http://www.myvavote.com/ to find more information on this bill. Also, the attachments here explain things and give you ways you can get involved. The bill has been amended several times to get to its current form.

The bill is moving forward and we need it to die. This would hurt the Lodge in serious ways and we need your help. Please call your Virginia Senator (the ones who meet in Richmond) and ask them to vote NO on SB 1127. You can also email the letter attached to them after you add their contact information and your signature or just copy and paste the language into your email. If you do not know who your Senator is, you can go to  https://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/ to find out.

When you call them, use their "Capitol Phone" number as they are in those offices now and this is listed on the site when you find your Senator.  Regardless of if you get a staffer or leave a message, make sure you say something. A message can be left and it still helps. Please use the following: 

“Hello, I am (insert your name here) and I live at (say your address here) and I am your constituent. I oppose SB 1127 because it hurts charities and I ask you to vote NO on SB 1127.”

Your support on this important issue is greatly appreciated.

We Must Unite and Oppose SB 1127! 

SB 1127, as introduced by Senator Bryce Reeves, would do massive damage to charitable gaming used by charitable organizations in Virginia. Some major highlights of the bill include: 

1. Ends the ability of some types of charities to use all approved forms of charitable gaming. This includes 501(c)3 charities like churches and education groups who are banned from using pull-tab games, both paper and electronic (Line number 78-79 of the bill). 
2. All charities would be required to conduct bingo in order to conduct any other forms of charitable gaming (Line number 271-278 of the bill). 
3. No charity can conduct any form of charitable gaming more than three days a week, down from the current seven days, and this includes both public pingo and private social quarters (Line number 277-278 of the bill). 
4. The tax collected by the Commonwealth, in addition to the audit fee, will TRIPLE (Line number 339-340 of the bill). 
5. Mandates a minimum Use of Proceeds rule at 10% of the gross revenue and ends the exemption of certain portions of this revenue from being used in the calculation meaning it will likely not be affordable for charities after prizes are paid (Line number 127-128 of the bill). 
6. Prevents charities from finding space away from major competition, like Rosie’s and Casinos by returning a rule mandating charitable gaming operations in the locality or adjacent locality of where a charity is located (Line number 267-269 of the bill).