§ 9-255.04. Expenses; limitations; allocation; payment of workers; expenses; how paid.
AI-assisted research summary: Licensed organizations must keep bingo expenses reasonable and necessary, stay within a 14% expense cap, and pay bingo workers only by check from the bingo account.
(1) No expense shall be incurred or amounts paid in connection with the conduct of bingo by a licensed organization except those which are reasonable and necessary. (2) A licensed organization shall not spend more than fourteen percent of its bingo gross receipts to pay the expenses of conducting bingo. The actual cost of (a) license and local permit fees, (b) any taxes authorized by the Nebraska Bingo Act, (c) bingo and promotional prizes, (d) the purchase, rental, or lease of bingo equipment, and (e) the rental or lease of a premises for the conduct of bingo and the purchase, rental, or lease of personal property as allowed by the department in rule and regulation which is necessary for the conduct of bingo shall not be included in determining compliance with the expense limitation contained in this section. (3) A licensed organization which is also licensed to conduct a lottery by the sale of pickle cards pursuant to the Nebraska Pickle Card Lottery Act may allocate a portion of the expenses associated with the conduct of its bingo occasions to its lottery by the sale of pickle cards conducted at such bingo occasions. Such allocation shall be based upon the percentage that pickle card gross proceeds derived from the sale of pickle cards at the bingo occasions represents to the total of bingo gross receipts and pickle card gross proceeds derived from such bingo occasions for the previous annual reporting period. An organization licensed to conduct bingo that has not been previously licensed shall determine such allocation based upon the percentage that pickle card gross proceeds derived from the sale of pickle cards at the bingo occasions represents to the total of bingo gross receipts and pickle card gross proceeds derived from such bingo occasions for the initial three consecutive calendar months of operation. (4) The total amount of expenses that may be allocated to the organization's lottery by the sale of pickle cards shall be subject to the limitations on bingo expenses as provided for in the Nebraska Bingo Act with respect to the fourteen-percent expense limitation and the fair-market-value limitation on the purchase, rental, or lease of bingo equipment and the rental or lease of personal property or of a premises for the conduct of bingo. No portion of the twelve percent of the definite profit of a pickle card unit as allowed by section 9-347 to pay the allowable expenses of operating a lottery by the sale of pickle cards shall be used to pay any expenses associated with the sale of pickle cards at a bingo occasion. (5) All persons paid for working at a bingo occasion, including pickle card sellers but excluding concession workers, shall be paid only by a check written from the licensed organization's bingo checking account and shall not receive any other compensation or payment for working at a bingo occasion from any other source. Such wages shall be at an hourly or occasion rate and shall be included in the amount allowed by the expense limitation provided in subsection (2) of this section. No person shall receive any compensation or payment from a licensed organization based upon a percentage of the organization's bingo gross receipts or profit. (6) No expenses associated with the conduct of bingo may be paid directly from the licensed organization's pickle card checking account. A licensed organization may transfer funds from its pickle card checking account to its bingo checking account as permitted by subsection (3) of this section by a check drawn on the pickle card checking account or by electronic funds transfer as provided only by section 9-347. History: Laws 1994, LB 694, § 52; Laws 1995, LB 344, § 8; Laws 2002, LB 545, § 17; Laws 2009, LB286, § 1.