N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 475

§ 475. Short title; purpose of article. This article shall be known\nand may be cited as the bingo licensing law. The legislature hereby\ndeclares that the raising of funds for the promotion of bona fide\ncharitable, educational, scientific, health, religious, civic and\npatriotic causes and undertakings, where the beneficiaries are\nindefinite, is in the public interest. It hereby finds that, as\nconducted prior to the enactment of this article, bingo was the subject\nof exploitation by professional gamblers, promoters, and commercial\ninterests. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the legislature\nthat all phases of the supervision, licensing and regulation of bingo\nand of the conduct of bingo games, should be closely controlled and that\nthe laws and regulations pertaining thereto should be strictly construed\nand rigidly enforced; that the conduct of the game and all attendant\nactivities should be so regulated and adequate controls so instituted as\nto discourage commercialization in all its forms, including the rental\nof commercial premises for bingo games, and to ensure a maximum\navailability of the net proceeds of bingo exclusively for application to\nthe worthy causes and undertakings specified herein; that the only\njustification for this article is to foster and support such worthy\ncauses and undertakings, and that the mandate of section nine of article\none of the state constitution, as amended, should be carried out by\nrigid regulation to prevent commercialized gambling, prevent\nparticipation by criminal and other undesirable elements and prevent the\ndiversion of funds from the purposes herein authorized.\n