By Goolsby                                            H.B. No. 1657
       74R3950 MWV-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the creation of a game of chance to be known as instant
    1-3  bingo.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Sections 2(2) and (22), Bingo Enabling Act
    1-6  (Article 179d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to read
    1-7  as follows:
    1-8              (2)  "Bingo" or "game" means a specific game of chance,
    1-9  commonly known as bingo, instant bingo, pulltab, or lotto, in which
   1-10  prizes are awarded on the basis of designated numbers or symbols on
   1-11  a card conforming to numbers or symbols selected at random and
   1-12  reflected on a cardboard, paper, or electronically produced card.
   1-13              (22)  "Bingo equipment" means equipment actually used,
   1-14  made, leased, or sold for the purpose of use in bingo games and
   1-15  includes machines or other devices from which balls or other items
   1-16  are withdrawn to determine the letters and numbers or other symbols
   1-17  to be called, the balls or items themselves, bingo cards, instant
   1-18  bingo cards and instant bingo handheld devices, including
   1-19  electronically produced cards that are loaded into a handheld
   1-20  electronic device that aids a bingo player in tracking the numbers
   1-21  or other symbols withdrawn during the conduct of the game, and any
   1-22  other device commonly used in the direct operation of the game.
   1-23  "Bingo equipment" does not include:
   1-24                    (A)  a bingo game set commonly manufactured and
    2-1  sold as a child's game for a retail price of $20 or less unless the
    2-2  set or a part of the set is actually used in a bingo game subject
    2-3  to regulation under this Act; <or>
    2-4                    (B)  commonly available component parts of bingo
    2-5  equipment such as light bulbs, fuses, or bingo balls; or
    2-6                    (C)  a handheld electronic device, other than an
    2-7  instant bingo handheld device, that allows a player to play
    2-8  independently of the conduct of a game.
    2-9        SECTION 2.  Section 19(b), Bingo Enabling Act (Article 179d,
   2-10  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
   2-11        (b)  A game of bingo may <not> be conducted only with <any>
   2-12  equipment <except> that is owned or leased by the licensed
   2-13  authorized organization <or used without payment of any
   2-14  compensation therefor by the licensee>.
   2-15        SECTION 3.  Section 11(u), Bingo Enabling Act (Article 179d,
   2-16  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is repealed.
   2-17        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-18        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.