The Stone Age of charity fundraising consisted of bake sales, school carnivals and sundry other nickel and dime affairs. That all changed with what’s commonly known as the Bingo Act of 1972.

The intention of the act was to “license and regulate the conducting of bingo, millionaire parties, and certain other forms of gambling; to provide for the conducting of charity games, raffles and numeral games” among other things.

The effect of this was to liberalize the amount of money that one person could win in a charity gaming setting. But what really blew the roof off charitable gaming (in a good way) was the approval of a friendly little card game known as Texas hold ’em.

According to members of the Michigan Charitable Gaming Association (MCGA), formed in July 2008 to assist charities with all matters of a gaming nature, the overwhelming majority of money raised by charities today comes from gaming rooms such as the one at Tripper’s in Frandor that feature Texas hold ’em. With assistance from companies that provide trained dealers, equipment and expertise to create a Vegas-like environment right here in mid-Michigan, charities from the VFW to the Williamston Soccer Boosters host players looking to enjoy themselves—and perhaps win a few hands, safe in the knowledge that if they happen to lose, it’s the charities that win.

Of course, “winning” is a relative term. According to the MCGA, the amount of money raised by charities on all fundraising activities, and charitable gaming in particular, has declined in recent years. However, with an estimated $20 million going into approximately 2,000 Michigan charities’ coffers annually, charitable gaming is a vital part of any charity’s fundraising efforts. In fact, “a charity probably won’t be successful unless it’s tied to a room,” according to Joe Potvin of VFW Post 6132 in Lansing, who says that charities are “more in need than ever before” of money made from Texas hold ’em.

A nongambler may be astounded to hear that unlike the days of old, when a charity would attempt to scrape together a poker or bingo night, establishments such as the room at Tripper’s operates 14 hours a day, seven days a week. There, Potvin’s fellow board member Heather Schuchaskie of Aces Gaming Supply says that charities “have complete control of the game records and the cash. They’re managing the financial part of it,” while Potvin adds that, “there could not be a game if it were not for the charity having or holding a license from the State of Michigan.

Businesses like Aces have grown up to facilitate the charity actually being able to host the game. They provide the room, the table, chips—all the mechanical things needed in order to host an event. They are a vital part of the whole process. Trying to do this on your own as a charity is extremely difficult.”

The MCGA grew out of the charities’ desire to protect themselves from various factions across the state who didn’t like what they were doing. “The only way we could protect ourselves was to get organized so that we could respond quickly when things came down the road that would harm charitable gaming,” Potvin says.

According to adviser to the board Doug Cruce, the MCGA has two classes of membership, charities and the room operators. And early on, the board “made sure that the charities will always have a controlling interest in the organization.” He also says that although the association’s approximately 260 members includes charities across the state, early on “only [the] ones closest to Lansing gravitated [to the association].”

A successful room, there are five in the Greater Lansing area, requires what Cruce calls a “poshness factor.” This is to attract people to the room and make them feel like they’re not playing poker in some dingy basement with a couple of card tables providing the ambiance. Earning are split 50/50 between the room and the charities with workers in that room. Cruce says that at some locations, up to three charities will be working at once. He also said that any given charity can staff a room a maximum of four times a year, for four days each time.

Past-chair Dona Gartside of the DeWitt Lions Club sums up the importance of charitable gaming in our area: “There is no other way to make the kind of money we make in the time we do it in,” a statement with which everyone on the board, as well as others at the MCGA, agrees. And the MCGA works to ensure that people who choose to make  gaming rooms a part of their recreational activity as well as their charitable giving (intentionally or otherwise) have a good experience.

So if you think you know when to hold them and perhaps more importantly, when to fold them, MCGA members hope you’ll consider joining in the fun and competition offered by the gaming rooms in our area.

It may be the best deal in town.