Virginia Charitable Gaming: Permits, Electronic Games, and Penalties

A Virginia charitable gaming permit is the authorization your nonprofit needs from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) before it can run bingo, raffles, Texas Hold’em tournaments, or similar fundraisers above a small exempt threshold. You apply through the Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs, pay a $200 nonrefundable fee, and wait up to 45 days for a decision.¹ Once issued, the permit comes with detailed rules on who can play, who can work, how prizes are capped, and how the money must be handled and reported. Getting the details wrong carries civil penalties of $25,000 to $50,000 per incident and, for late financial reports, automatic revocation.²

Which Organizations Qualify

Only certain nonprofits can hold a permit. Virginia Code 18.2-340.16 limits eligibility to religious, charitable, community, civic, fraternal, educational, and veterans’ groups, along with volunteer fire departments and rescue squads recognized by their localities.³ Most operate with some form of 501(c) status, though fire and rescue units qualify through local recognition instead.

The organization must also have existed and held regular meetings in Virginia for at least three years before applying.⁴ A few exceptions cut through the wait: a local chapter of a national fraternal or civic organization can skip it if another Virginia chapter already holds a permit, newly established volunteer fire and rescue companies can get a waiver with local approval, and school booster clubs qualify if they exist solely to fund school-sponsored activities.

When You Do Not Need a Permit

Small-scale operations are exempt. If your organization reasonably expects $40,000 or less in gross raffle receipts across any 12-month period, no permit is required and no notice to the Department is needed.⁵ The same $40,000 cap applies to organizations that conduct non-raffle charitable gaming on no more than seven days in a calendar year. Cross that line and you need to apply and start filing financial reports.

Note the boundary: the exemption covers the permit and reporting, but the games themselves still must be games Virginia authorizes, played by an organization that would otherwise qualify.

How to Apply

Applications go to VDACS through the online portal or by mail to Richmond, using the Charitable Gaming Permit Application.¹ Include:

The $200 nonrefundable application fee, payable to the Treasurer of Virginia.
An additional $200 if you are a social organization seeking electronic gaming authorization.
Supporting documentation showing eligibility and three years of Virginia operations (or documentation supporting one of the exceptions).

Volunteer fire departments, locally recognized rescue squads, and certain other groups identified in the statute are exempt from the application fee.⁵

The Department may require fingerprints from applicants and their officers, processed through the Central Criminal Records Exchange and the FBI. Routine fingerprinting of volunteer bingo workers is not required, though the Department can request it from permit holders and prospective employees.⁶

The Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs has 45 days to process a completed application.¹ Incomplete submissions restart the clock in practical terms, so confirm every field is filled and every attachment is present before you send it. Gaming cannot begin until the permit is issued.

What You Can Run and What You Can Award

Virginia Code 18.2-340.22 authorizes raffles, bingo, network bingo, instant bingo, and Texas Hold’em poker tournaments.⁷ Pull-tab cards and seal cards also fall within the charitable gaming definition.³ Anything else is prohibited, and the Department cannot approve any form of poker other than Texas Hold’em.

Prize caps under Virginia Code 18.2-340.33 are strict and specific:⁸

Regular or special bingo game prizes: $100 per game, with up to 10 games per session allowed at up to $200.
Jackpots: $1,000 per jackpot and $1,000 total in jackpot prizes per session.
Door prizes: $250 for a single door prize; $500 cumulative per session.
Progressive games: start no higher than $500, cap at $5,000, increase by no more than $200 per session, and no more than six progressive games per session.
Network bingo: $25,000 per single prize.
Instant bingo, pull-tabs, and seal cards: $2,000 per single card.
Raffles: $100,000, with a narrow exception for certain housing raffles by 501(c) organizations no more than three times per year.

Who Can Run the Games

Charitable gaming has to stay in the hands of your own people. Anyone helping manage or operate a game must have been a bona fide member of the organization for at least 30 days. If your organization has no formal membership structure, non-member volunteers may help only under the direct supervision of a bona fide member.⁸

Paying gaming workers is essentially prohibited. The narrow exceptions: organizations serving deaf or blind members may pay clerical assistants up to $30 per event; off-duty law enforcement officers may be paid for uniformed security at bingo games; and youth under 19 who sell raffle tickets may receive nonmonetary incentive prizes. Members who help run bingo may be provided food and nonalcoholic beverages under Department conditions. That is the entire list. Blurring this line is one of the fastest ways to lose a permit.

Age Rules for Players and Helpers

Minimum ages vary by game. No one under 18 may buy or play instant bingo, pull-tabs, seal cards, or network bingo.⁹ Texas Hold’em tournaments are also 18-and-up. Regular bingo can allow minors to play if a parent or legal guardian accompanies them, and children as young as 13 who are family members of a bona fide member may help conduct bingo under conditions the Department prescribes.¹⁰ Electronic gaming carries the highest threshold at 21.

Bank Accounts and Deposits

Every permitted organization keeps a charitable gaming bank account entirely separate from its general operating account. All gaming receipts, except electronic gaming, go there.¹¹ Social organizations running electronic gaming need a second dedicated account for those receipts.

Deposit timing is tight:

Bingo, raffle, pull-tab, and similar session receipts: deposited by the second business day after the session.
Electronic gaming receipts: deposited at least once every seven calendar days.
Raffle proceeds from ticket sales outside a session: deposited by the end of the following calendar week.

Expenses other than prizes and meal reimbursements must be paid by check directly from the gaming account, producing the paper trail auditors expect.

Reports, Deadlines, and Records

Permitted organizations file at least one financial report a year, under penalty of perjury on the Department’s form, accounting for gross receipts, prize payouts, gaming expenses, and cash on hand at the close of the period. Organizations with net receipts above a set amount in any three-month period may also have to file quarterly.¹²

You also have to spend a set percentage of gross gaming receipts on your chartered charitable purpose. The exact percentage lives in Department regulations rather than the statute, so confirm the current figure when your permit is issued.¹⁰ Gaming money cannot be used for anything beyond gaming expenses, reasonable business costs, and that chartered mission.⁸

The deadline rule is the one that catches organizations off guard. If a required report is not filed within 30 days of when it is due, the permit is automatically revoked. No hearing, no discretion. Gaming stops until the report is filed and a new permit is obtained.¹² Late fees also apply on a schedule set by regulation, and all reports are subject to audit and on-site inspection.¹³

Records must be kept for at least three years after the close of the fiscal year: bank statements, canceled checks, reconciliations, session-level records for bingo and poker, raffle ticket documentation including winning and unsold tickets, and every use-of-proceeds disbursement.¹⁴ If an audit or investigation is underway when the three years lapse, keep the records anyway.

Electronic Gaming: A Separate Track

Electronic gaming is not available under a standard charitable gaming permit. Only social organizations, a subset of qualified organizations that meet extra statutory criteria, can apply, and they must first hold a charitable gaming permit and then obtain separate authorization from the Department.¹⁵ The Department decides within 45 days, notes the authorization on the existing permit, and the authorization lasts no more than two years.

The Department caps electronic gaming at 18 devices per location, each carrying a mark showing approval. Players must be at least 21. Credit is prohibited; only cash and debit cards are accepted for electronic gaming charges.¹⁶ An authorized social organization can lease its premises to another qualified organization for electronic gaming, but the lessee has to comply with all Department rules.

What Violations Cost

Conducting charitable gaming without a permit, continuing after suspension or revocation, or violating any provision of the charitable gaming statute carries a civil penalty of $25,000 to $50,000 per incident.² The penalty applies whether or not the organization ever held a permit, so unlicensed gaming carries the same financial exposure as licensed gaming gone wrong.

Administratively, the Department can suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew a permit for statutory violations, unfiled tax returns, or disqualifying criminal history among an organization’s officers, including felony convictions and gambling-related offenses.¹⁷ And the automatic revocation for a report filed more than 30 days late still applies, no matter how strong the rest of the organization’s compliance record.

1
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Organization Licensing and Registration
2
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.36:1 – Civil Penalty
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.16 – Definitions
4
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.24 – Eligibility for Permit
5
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.23 – Organizations Exempt From Certain Fees and Reports
6
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.25 – Permit Required; Application Fee
7
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.22 – Permitted Forms of Gaming
8
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.33 – Prohibited Practices
9
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.28 – Conduct of Instant Bingo, Network Bingo, Pull Tabs, and Seal Cards
10
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.19 – Regulations of the Department
11
Cornell Law Institute. 11 Virginia Administrative Code 20-20-80 – Bank Accounts
12
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.30 – Reports of Gross Receipts and Disbursements Required
13
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.31 – Audit of Reports
14
Virginia Code Commission. 11 Virginia Administrative Code 20-20-80 Through 20-20-110
15
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.25:1 – Authorization to Conduct Electronic Gaming
16
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.26:3 – Electronic Gaming
17
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-340.34 – Suppliers of Charitable Gaming Supplies