It was one of the few good things to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rising from Golden with rocket popularity around the Kootenays and beyond, Rotary Community Online Bingo became a weekly diversion, with hundreds of weekly (Friday night) players.

So many people played that massive prizes became the norm, and even more people played.

Tens of thousands of dollars went out the door to winners while Rotary Clubs from throughout the Kootenays took part and raised even more money for community causes than before.

Now, sadly, the exception to gaming rules that allowed Rotary to create such a massive fundraising success is being rolled back, signalling the upcoming demise of Online Bingo at the end of 2022.

When Golden Rotary started the online bingo game in April 2020, B.C.’s Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch (GPEB) welcomed its vision for an online bingo event and supported and aided them in developing a system that adhered to the Gaming Rules and Regulations.

“In order to accommodate the need for virtual games, GPEB made a temporary exception to the Gaming Rules to allow organizations to scan and email bingo cards to purchasers while COVID-19 Provincial Health Order restrictions were in place. We understood that allowing the scanning and emailing of bingo cards was a temporary solution in a time of uncertainty and we appreciate the opportunity we have been given over the last two years to build this incredible online platform,” stated Stacie Martini of Castlegar Rotary, which took over running the weekly games from Golden Rotary.

Effective August 25, Charitable Licensing will no longer be issuing bingo licenses to organizations enabling the ability to scan and email bingo cards, reverting back to Section 10.5, she explained.

“Rotary Community Online Bingo has developed into so much more than ‘just a bingo’ in our local communities. We have become a provincial community, a safe space of support and connection for so many of us,” Martini said on social media.

“We have lost sleep and wracked our brains on different ways that would allow us to continue with our Bingo platform, which would include all our players from all B.C. communities. Unfortunately, we have not been able to come up with any feasible solutions. So it is with immense sadness that we at Rotary Community Online Bingo inform our players and, more importantly, you, our friends, that December 30 will be our last game.”

Martini said Rotary intends to fully utilize the next two months.

“We want to take the next two months to highlight and reflect on this group’s amazing contribution to communities and non-profits across the province. Thank you for your continued support of Rotary and each other! There are big plans in the making to make sure we go out with a bang!”

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

Article Share