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When the bingo jackpots are high the crowds can be big
A hazy cloud of cigarette smoke hangs over the crowd at a Peru bingo parlor, overpowering the fans in the parlor's designated smoking section.
Linda Ernat of Peru takes a long drag as she dabs I 15 on her bingo cards. It's a straight bingo game where five across, down or diagonal wins, and three of her cards only need one more number.
She lights up another smoke and glances at the television monitor hoping luck is on her side.
I tried a horseshoe, but it didn't do me any good, Ernat said, referring to her luck charms. We've tried elephants and everything else and they never helped.
Bingo has been part of many people's lives for decades whether it is in the basement of the local church or VFW or in the halls of gaming establishments. For the organizers, the game is about the bottom line. For the players, it's all about the call of the ball.
THE ORGANIZER
On an average night, the intermittent thuds of 160 people dabbing their cards with ink as the next number comes up sounds like a full court press at a high school basketball game. Manager Jim Smith sits back and watches the action making sure the games flow like a well-oiled bingo machine.
It's his job along with his wife, Celie, to keep the peace, manage the food and keep the customers happy so they come back again.
We have people that come almost every night, Smith said. For those people, it is almost like a second home. That's what they do for entertainment.
Smith has been manager at the Peru bingo parlor since 1997. While he runs a tight ship, Smith understands bingo can be a tense game and slip-ups happen.
A few choice four-letter words can creep out of even the most innocent elderly woman's mouth when a player is only one number away from $1,000.
I'd never had to throw anyone out of the hall in eight years, Smith said. As long as you aren't assaulting anybody or causing trouble or whatever, we can put up with a lot.
Bingo has evolved from the days of big bulky cards and monotonous play to a streamlined multi-game environment.
Minigames like dual-dab and speedball keep players interested between regular games, and progressive jackpot games such as Monster Raffle can reach more than $10,000.
You tend to see only certain people when the money gets big, Smith said. If you want the big crowds, you have to offer big money.
The big money is provided by the bingo parlor's six sponsors. Each night is sponsored by a different organization and the money made goes back to them. The organization promises to provide the $3,000-$4,000 per night payout.
LaMoille Lions Club has been a sponsor since a Peru bingo parlor opened 10 years ago. The Lions put up the money and the profits are split between the Lions and whatever group helps them for that night.
The money goes to our building fund, Lions building fund treasurer, Jim Pakula said.
Sometimes the sponsors are taking just as much of a gamble as the people playing the games. If they don't have the crowds, they may take a loss for the night.
When the jackpots are high, the crowds can be big and the sponsors make lots of money for their cause, but sometimes their revenue doesn't keep pace with the costs of playing bingo.
We'll take a loss, but we will not cut our jackpots, La Salle-Peru Elks bingo chairman Warren Peterson said. This is their game and we are dealing with their money.
More than $73,000 in payouts has been given out in the month of April. Pakula said overall, the key to bingo is to look at the long haul and not the single night.
No one can say being a bingo sponsor isn't exciting. Pakula remembered one instance when a woman collapsed to the floor during a bingo game. Luckily, the group helping the Lions Club that night was a group of emergency medical technicians.
They brought her back, Pakula said. She was blue and they brought her back to life.
The woman returned to bingo four months later.
THE PLAYER
When Marjorie Jackson of Harmon comes to bingo every Wednesday; it's like readying for war. Instead of guns and grenades, she packs ink-filled daubers and pictures of her grandchildren and an Elvis impersonator.
We went up to Minnesota and saw Elvis, Jackson said holding up the picture of the faux king. He wasn't the real one, but we had fun.
Superstition is a big part of the game for many players and Jackson is no exception. After she builds the shrine to luck every week, there is hardly room for her bingo cards.
At her front and right are pictures of her children and grandchildren ready to bring mom and grandma luck. In a pile on her left are more than 20 trinkets and gifts she accrued over the years, each one with a sentimental attachment. Troll dolls, a little green alien figure that was once her mother's and a big green frog that croaks for good luck actually, used to croak.
I would press him every time I needed a number for a bingo, Jackson said.
Jackson has been playing for about 10 years, but her shrine is a more recent creation. Her sister-in-law turned her on to the idea and even gave Jackson her first troll doll for good luck.
Her rituals don't end with the creation of the shrine. Each game is played on a different colored piece of paper and like many bingo players she likes to use the corresponding dauber color.
Manufacturers of ink daubers never came out with brown ink, so Jackson decided to make her own.
I blended yellow, red and green, Jackson said. It was nasty, but it was brown.
A few rows back Irene Powell of La Salle and Ernat sit together waiting impatiently for the next number to be called. Powell is a bingo veteran of more than 50 years. She started out playing on an Indian reservation in California and has never looked back since.
Of the duo, Powell is the big winner. She left the parlor with more than $11,000, a few years ago.
There's nothing else to do in town, Powell said. We're old ladies. I just enjoy coming here and visiting a lot of people.
Ernat's 24-year-old son, Brian, helps at the bingo parlor whenever his mother stops in to play which is quite frequently. Brian was born with spina bifida and is confined to a wheelchair, but that doesn't stop him from zipping across the bingo floor to help out when needed.
"I know everybody and everybody knows me", Brian said.
Brian has been helping out at the Peru bingo parlor since he was 19. His infectious smile and good-natured personality has become as much a part of the parlor's allure as the big jackpots and multitude of games.
He sits with the players as they wait for the games to begin and talks to complete strangers as if he has known them his whole life.
When they have a question, people can come to me, Brian said.
Brian has one weakness and it is the same as most men his age. If he isn't with his mother or traveling about the parlor, Brian is likely striking up a conversation with the prettiest girl.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Despite Brian's best efforts and the regular jackpots hitting more than $10,000, fewer people are coming to bingo parlors. According to Smith, the parlor would see a crowd of 250 people one a given night in the old days, but now they are lucky to draw in 160.
Some people say bingo is a dying game.
Most players are elderly and as they pass on, not enough younger players are stepping forward to replace them.
Everything cycles, and it's true that bingo does not have the popularity that it once had, Peterson said.
The numerous casinos popping up throughout the Midwest also are taking away steady bingo customers. Bingo parlors don't have the money for the free bus trips, complimentary meals or other incentives casinos use to bring in customers.
Gambling fever has just enveloped the country, Peterson said. If we would ever have a gambling boat in Ottawa or here on the river, that could be the end.
Dwindling numbers are bad for the sponsors, but bingo players are not complaining about not enough people to play against. The fewer people in the hall, the better the chances of winning.
In the hearts and minds of the diehard bingo players, bingo will never be unpopular, according to Smith. The Linda Ernats and Marjorie Jackson of the world will continue to keep the game alive, showing up day after day and week after week for their chance at the big money.
"They say bingo is going downhill, but for the people who play, it is as popular as ever", Smith said.
Source: BonusGambler.com Editors' Choice
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