(a) A bona fide non-profit organization may conduct a performance for the exclusive benefit of a volunteer fire department, or a charitable, benevolent, patriotic, fraternal, educational, religious or civic object. A benefit performance includes an outdoor or indoor carnival, fair, picnic, dance, card party, bazaar, concert, contest, horse show, exhibition, lecture, barbecue, or dinner, to which the public is invited or admitted, with or without charge for admission. The net proceeds must benefit solely the non-profit organization.
(b) At a benefit performance, the organization or operator may award prizes in merchandise, conduct games of skill, dispose of merchandise or any other thing of value by auction or voting or by any mechanical device, such as a paddle wheel, wheel of fortune, bingo, or similar device. However, the organization or operator must not award prizes in money or tokens or certificates redeemable in money, in any game, auction, contest, or method which is prohibited under any State or County gaming law.
(c) Before conducting any benefit performance, any organization must obtain from the Director of Permitting Services a written permit under this Chapter. A benefit performance must be managed by the organization that will benefit from it, and may be operated by or with a contractor of that organization.
(d) Any person who conducts a benefit performance in violation of this Section has committed a class A violation. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 14-12; 1936, Sp. Sess., ch. 122; 1972 L.M.C., ch. 16, § 5; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 20, § 1; 1998 L.M.C., ch. 12, § 1; , § 1; , § 2; , § 1.)
State law reference—Bingo or raffles in Montgomery County, Md. Code Ann., Criminal Law § 13-1810.
