Bingo Law May Be Eased to Aid Group

The City Council tonight will consider changing the city’s bingo ordinance so that a music group can offer more than one game a week.

Members of the Kingsmen, a drum and bugle corps, came to the council in 1992 to request permission to operate a bingo parlor to finance their music competitions. They won approval, with the condition that if neighboring merchants or law enforcement agencies complained, the games would end.

The city also limited any bingo license holder to one game a week.

Councilman Harry Dotson said the city will consider allowing bingo parlors to offer more than one game a week to help the Kingsmen, who recently lost several instruments in a theft at its Beach Boulevard practice hall.

Officials said the Kingsmen have promised to donate part of their bingo earnings to other groups in the community, such as the public library, once they are out of the red.

They also said they would change their name to the Stanton Kingsmen, which Dotson said would be a source of pride for the entire community.

“You look at little Stanton and you know we don’t have much culture, so we would like that,” he said.

The council meets at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 7800 Katella Ave. Information: (714) 379-9222.