Proposes 20 percent fee to fund parish recreation department
Councilman Desmond Hilaire’s video bingo ban has caused a lot of controversy since he first issued the ordinance in November.
It called for the banning of charitable electronic video bingo gaming in St. Charles Parish, but Parish President Albert Laque subsequently vetoed Hilaire’s ordinance.
At a Dec. 3 parish council meeting, councilmen Ram Ramachandran, Snookie Faucheux, Deryl Walls, Richard Duhe, and Barry Minnich stuck by their original decision and voted to override Laque’s veto. Hilaire voted against his own ordinance, but says changing his vote prevented a costly legal battle between the parish and the owner of the video bingo hall.
Brett Sulzer, an attorney and one of the owners of the Luling Video Bingo Palace, threatened to file a lawsuit against the parish if the video bingo ban was upheld.
“Every person in every legal entity that I know inside and outside of St. Charles Parish advised me that the ordinance would result in a lawsuit that the parish couldn’t win,” he said. “I voted against my original ordinance based on information I obtained from these legal experts, along with looking at the codes from planning and zoning concerning the permits the owners received.”
With thoughts of pending litigation over, Hilaire has shifted his focus to placing a 20 percent fee on the net winnings of video bingo proceeds. His current ordinance will impact both charities and owners of the video bingo machines.
“In other words, there will be a 20 percent fee imposed on the net revenue before the money is divided between the charities and the owners of the machines,” Hillaire said of his new proposal.
Hilaire says that with the new ordinance in place, he will be able to help St. Charles Parish’s recreational areas.
“All of the money collected from the 20 percent fees will go in funding the needs of the St. Charles Parish Parks Department,” he said.
Business owners who lease video poker machines complained, saying video bingo machines, which resemble slot machines, would hurt their business.
So far, the growth of video bingo is occurring mainly in parishes that voted to outlaw video poker during local-option elections in 1996. However, St. Charles Parish has video poker, video bingo and off track betting.
“I don’t think it will saturate the community with Barry Minnich’s ordinance in place requiring future hall owners to come before the council for a special use permit,” Hilaire said. “Barry’s proposal also requires anyone interested in opening future off track betting facilities to come before the council.”
Hilaire’s ordinance will be introduced at the Dec. 17 council meeting.
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