Our years of television consumption taught us that bingo is a game played by retirees, sitting in a large hall with another retiree pulling balls out of a spinning wheel.
Well, this is just another instance when television has failed us. ’Cause we checked out bingo night at the Bektash Shriners last Thursday and it’s way more popular and involved than TV ever led us to believe.
Sure, there were retirees filling out cards as a volunteer called out I-22, G-53 or whatever ball popped up next, and it was in a large hall, but this is a serious operation with a lot of money at stake.
If all the rollovers and payouts hit, Lloyd Doughty, who has run bingo at the Shriners for the last year, would have paid out close to $23,000. Yes, you read that right – $23,000.
“I was one of the guys out on the floor selling the pull tab tickets,” Doughty said.
Now that’s only if the carryover coverall, which was up to $7,766, and the big money in the Trifecta pull tab (valued at $8,800) both hit along with a bunch of the other pots in the pull tab games. And of course, all the bingo winnings. Heading into last weekend, the Airport Road Bingo affair, which is held Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons, the total of similar jackpots were over $30,000.
“It’s a great thing and people come out for all the right reasons,” Doughty said. “And maybe win a little money.”
Who knew you could win that kind of money outside of Vegas, let alone in little ol’ Concord.
And if you’ve never been to a Shriners bingo night, checked out Airport Road Bingo or played elsewhere, it might be a little intimidating walking in the door for the first time. Do you want to just play bingo? Cause there’s 15 different games, many with different objectives and some that have more than one prize to win. You can spend as little as $15 for a pack of 12 bingo cards with a couple winner-take-all cards or as much as $36 where you still get the winner-take-all, but with 36 regular game cards. But that’s not including the pull tab games, which we didn’t even know existed until we connected with the local bingo experts.
“Believe it or not, it’s not all that expensive to play,” Haskins said.
“You can buy 50 cents worth or $100.50 worth,” Doughty said.
The pull tabs might be hard to explain in this format, but we’ll give it a shot. That’s what you like about us, always willing to try something even if we come out looking a little foolish.
The pull tab games have clever names like Lucky 7, Turtle 13, King of the Mountain, 3 Times the Fun and Trifecta. For 50 cents each – and you can buy as many as you want – it’s just another way to hopefully go home with a little extra cash in your pocket – or a check, cause that’s when you know you won the big bucks.
“I think I probably have 13 different tickets that I sell during a weekend,” Haskins said.
“The pull tab tickets are what drive things,” Doughty said.
They’re probably a little bigger then a business card and have three pull tabs on the back. All you have to do is keep an open ear and hopefully have the letter-number combo on your card called. There are many ways to win on each ticket and the games are played before and during the regular bingo hours.
On Thursdays at the Shriners, the doors open at 4 p.m., which coincides to the start of sales for the pull tab tickets. Games are played over the next couple of hours, until early bird bingo begins at 6:15 p.m. The bingo portion of the evening typically lasts upwards of two hours, while other pull tab games are mixed in.
“Most of the folks who come here early are here for the pull tabs,” Doughty said.
As for Airport Road Bingo, the doors open at 3:30 p.m., when pull tab ticket sales and games start with bingo taking over at 6 p.m. On Sundays, the doors open at noon and bingo starts at 2:30 p.m.
Now you might be wondering why people would show up so early?
Well, what we learned is that there’s a lot of superstition in the game of bingo. So people get there to reserve a certain seat at a certain table, buy their cards from a certain volunteer and get things set up for when the game gets going. They might connect with others they see each week, grab a little food and try to win a little money.
“I get the same people that play the same sheets, sit in the same seat every week and drink the same amount of coffee. They’re creatures of habit,” Haskins said.
A lot of people go just to take part in the pull tab games, while others are strictly looking to shout out ‘bingo.’ But there are many that do both and make it a part of their weekly routine.
“You have to play bingo to play pull tab tickets,” Haskins said.
The Shriners average about 135 people each Thursday, while Haskins gets upwards of 100 people on Saturdays and about 75 on Sundays. But both can accommodate many more people, as the Shriners hall can hold about 400 and Airport Road, held at the old Elks building, can fit about 225.
“If I could consistently put 200 in this building we’d be doing awesome,” Doughty said.
You might be curious as to how what appears to be a gambling operation is allowed? Well, the state strictly regulates the game of bingo and gets a percentage of the carryover coverall and winner take all, along with a dollar amount for each box of tickets and cards sold.
Now what happens to the rest of the money? Well, each bingo operation has a charity it works with. Haskins is connected with For the Love of Dogs Rescue and since the Shriners is a charity, the money stays in house to help with operational costs and the rest is used toward the organization’s philanthropic efforts and the Shriners hospitals.
“They get a certain percentage of what we bring in after all expenses are paid,” Haskins said.
“We are a charity, so everything we do comes back to us,” Doughty said.
And of course some of the money is taken home by the winners. Haskins paid out over $21,000 to one person last year and Doughty wrote a check for $17,000.
“It was to a nice old lady who comes in every Saturday and Sunday and sits in the same seat,” Haskins said. “In the last six months, I’ve probably given away about $40,000.”
So if you’ve never tried playing bingo, you might want to check it out. There’s big money to win and a fun time to be had.
