A California state senator has tabled a bill to reinvigorate low-tech bingo as a fundraising tool for the state’s Catholic Churches and charities, but the measure faces opposition from tribal gaming leaders who oppose the ongoing use of electronic bingo terminals across the state on non-reservation sites. The issue raises the prospect of a bizarre Church versus tribes battle.

The dying days of California’s 2008 legislative assembly session last week saw an important bill to outlaw charity bingo machines passed and a measure proposing intrastate online poker decisively buried. Both outcomes were in large part decided by the enormous lobbying powers of California’s gaming tribes.

Charitable bingo parlours in California are preparing last gasp legal motions to stay in business after a federal appeals court threw out a lower court order barring the state from shutting them down.

Legislation passed last year backed California’s gaming tribes and outlawed the operation of Class II gaming machines by many charities in California, but the law is still being contested in federal court and, with economic pressures growing, the issue could be set for reconsideration in a public vote later this year.

A handful of dingy bingo parlours operating in California are riling tribal casinos, provoking two legal battles and stirring worries about potential multi-million dollar consequences for state budget coffers.

The last call for charity bingo parlours operating casino-style games in California may have finally arrived, and Indian gambling interests say the anticipated demise of electronic bingo is long overdue.

California’s protracted legal battle over charity bingo is ending with moving vans and signs of surrender as gamblers pay last respects to local bingo halls and charities remove hundreds of electronic gaming machines.

Prominent Indian gaming interests are urging state politicians to resist a legislative push to allow Californian charities to receive a second opportunity to seek compensation in return for shutting off electronic bingo machines, while charities’ legal and political challenges to an earlier court order show no sign of dwindling.

Following Governor Crist's pleas for the Seminole and the state legislature to reach an amenable consensus on the tribe's compact agreement, a resolution appears to be within reach. Meanwhile, the recent introduction of a legislative proposal calling for regulated intra-state online poker will test the reach of the US Department of Justice.

As Kentucky continues to face mounting budget pressures amid a $1.4bn deficit and increased regional competition, Governor Steve Beshear remains committed to advocating expanded gambling measures, with the most recent proposals once again calling for the implementation of video lottery terminals at Kentucky's racetracks.