BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 3282

By: Guillen

Licensing & Administrative Procedures

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties contend that current law does not provide sufficient information regarding 24-number bingo games. H.B. 3282 seeks to remedy this situation by expanding the bingo game statute to include the operation and regulation of 24-number bingo games.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Lottery Commission in SECTION 5 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 3282 amends the Occupations Code to authorize an organization that holds a license to conduct bingo to conduct 24-number bingo at the same time that the organization conducts other forms of bingo. The bill defines "24-number bingo" to mean a form of bingo in which prizes are awarded when designated numbers or symbols conform to 24 randomly preselected numbers or symbols. The bill authorizes a person playing 24-number bingo to use a card-minding device to display the person's available credit value associated with the person's bingo account and to perform transactions using the credit value. The bill makes the prohibition against a person offering or awarding on a single bingo occasion prizes with an aggregate value of more than $2,500 inapplicable to 24-number bingo games that award individual prizes of $25 or less.

H.B. 3282 requires the Texas Lottery Commission, as soon as practicable after the bill's effective date but not later than December 1, 2011, to adopt rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions. The bill defines "credit value" and redefines "bingo equipment" to make a nonsubstantive change.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2011.