Church sues members who ran bingo games
A southeast-side church that hosts Marion County’s most lucrative bingo parlor is suing several congregation members, claiming they skimmed winnings from the charity gambling operation, which raked in more than $40 million over the past decade.
Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Beech Grove alleges the volunteers who ran the operation violated Indiana Gaming Commission rules, filed fraudulent and deceptive accounting reports and misdirected church money for their personal benefit, according to the lawsuit pending in Marion Superior Court.
Thomas and Jane Rizzi, a husband and wife who headed the church’s bingo program, and their son, Andrew Rizzi, also are accused of selling concessions at the games under the pretense the money was going to the Beech Grove Little League. The lawsuit, however, says that the youth sports organization never received any of the money, which instead was directed to the “personal use and benefit” of the Rizzis and others.
Also named in the lawsuit are church members Mark Squillance, Michael J. Snow and at least 10 others currently identified only as “John and Jane Does number 1-10.”
How much money may have been skimmed or misappropriated is not known at this time, said church attorney John “Jay” Mercer. But bingo and pull tabs, which are allowed under the charity gaming law, bring in millions a year, nearly all of that in cash.
Britton Jared, the attorney representing the defendants, said he could not comment on the pending litigation.
Questions about the operation of the church’s three weekly bingo games also have prompted a Gaming Commission probe, according to Mercer, who said the games were halted in August after concerns came to light about the bingo operation.
Jennifer Reske, the commission's deputy director, said the investigation was initiated in response to complaints from players. She said it is ongoing, but a notice of violation could be filed soon.
Reske said it was the church's decision, not an order from the commission, that shut down the church's bingo operation last summer.
At least some of the money was taken, Mercer alleged, by the operators overstating the payout for winnings on bingo and pull tab games. He said that allowed them to pocket cash that should have gone to the church.
Under Indiana charity gaming law, nonprofits such as churches and fraternal organizations can receive a license to operate bingo games up to three days a week. Holy Name maxed out its license, conducting games three days a week in space the church leased in a shopping center at 3633 E. Raymond St.
State rules require that the operators be members of the organization holding the license. They also must do the work as volunteers.
The Rizzis, Mercer said, “had been running bingo (at the church) for a long time.”
Reske, of the Gaming Commission, said neither the Rizzis nor others named in the lawsuit were involved in the operation of any other charity bingo games in the county.
Holy Name was one of 16 churches and nonprofits licensed to operate charity bingo games in 2015. The church’s games grossed $3.3 million, the largest single amount among the 16 operators, which earned a total of $14.3 million last year.
Since 2006, according to state records, Holy Name bingo games have grossed a little more than $40 million. The annual take ranged from a high of $6.9 million in 2006 to a low of $3.1 million in 2014.
Holy Name has been the top earning bingo operator in five of the past 10 years and pulled in the second-highest amounts in three other years. In one of the years when it was the top grosser, Holy Name earned nearly $3 million more than its nearest competitor. In another, it brought in more than $1 million more than the second-highest earner.
Although the games are operated under a “charity” license, the vast majority of proceeds from all of the county’s bingo operators don't go to some outside charity. Instead, they go to the nonprofit organization running the games.
Of the $14.2 million earned at Marion County bingo games in 2015, only $60,130 actually went to another “charity.” That works out to a small fraction of 1 percent.
But that’s OK under state law.
Proceeds from charity bingo, according to regulations, can be used to pay the hosting group’s mortgage or rent payments, taxes, insurance, utilities, building maintenance and improvements, security and legal fees associated with the gaming.
The county’s 16 charity bingo operators last year reported directing $13.5 million of the $14.2 million that landed in their coffers for those permitted purposes.
At Holy Name, the lawsuit notes, “bingo and gaming profits are valuable and unique assets” and “provide a significant source of revenue.” That money, court documents say, “helps to defray the cost of operating the parish.”
Holy Name was fined $5,000 by the Gaming Commission in 2014 for allowing workers to accept tips, which is against state law; for not posting required “No Tipping” signs; and for failing to collect information on players who won pull tab prizes of $250 or more.
Commission investigators returned to the church's bingo hall in July for what the lawsuit describes as “a surprise inspection.”
Mercer, the church attorney, said the results of the investigation have not been released, but it appears many of the violations cited in 2014 had not been corrected.
The lawsuit says the gaming operators, the Rizzis and others, “were responsible for conducting … events in accordance with Indiana law and the rules and regulations of the Gaming Commission.”
The case has been set for a bench trial Aug. 24.
Tim Evans is IndyStar's consumer advocate. Call him at (317) 444-6204 and follow him on Twitter: @starwatchtim.
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