DATE: Thursday, November 20, 1997           TAG: 9711200453

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   82 lines

FEW BINGO LOVERS HEED CORRUPTION TALK DESPITE ALLEGATIONS OF FOUL PLAY, MANY GAMERS STILL LOYAL.

Over the years, Ramona Handy has lost thousands of dollars playing bingo - as much as $800 just last week. She's even been cheated, and seen bingo ``volunteers'' rig the games, then divide their winnings.

Still, Handy said she isn't bothered by charges of corruption in local bingo operations. Handy, who works nights, plays bingo nearly every afternoon of the week and has no plans to change.

Many of the 277 other people who played bingo at Witchduck Hall Wednesday afternoon agree. To bingo organizer Jerry Hallal, the large crowd was a vote of confidence in his operation, which raises money for the Aragona Pembroke Little League.

While recent investigations into bingo fraud have put some bingo organizers on the defensive, many players said they've paid no attention to them. Others dismissed the charges as rumors or sour grapes.

``The people who lose are the ones who complain of cheating,'' said Karen Davis, who played several bingo cards at once in the smoke-clouded Witchduck Hall. ``Bingo is like anything else. It's a gamble.''

Like Davis, Rita Chase said she's uninterested in the Virginia Charitable Gaming Commission's investigation into former Deep Creek Baseball Association bingo manager George West. ``There are always going to be rumors,'' said Chase, who also played at Witchduck Hall.

West was convicted in September of running an illegal gambling operation and diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the charity. Since West's conviction, others have described how some bingo organizers bilk customers.

Some of those who run bingo games, however, say their reputations are on the line.

Aragona Pembroke Little League raised $270,000 through bingo last year, said Cheryl Mazza, the league's bingo manager. The league used that money to pay for 850 children's uniforms, registration fees and end-of-season parties, she said.

``I think we all get a bad rap,'' Mazza said. ``People shouldn't label us on on the basis of one or two bad apples.''

The Girl Scouts Council of the Colonial Coast also held a bingo game Wednesday at Mid City Bingo on Sewells Point Road in Norfolk.

Girl Scout employee Donna DeBarge, a bingo manager, called her instant game card distributor to ask about the cheating allegations. Some bingo workers have claimed that they secretly pre-select winning game cards before the official drawing, to cheat customers and reward fellow bingo workers. But DeBarge's distributor told her there's no way to tamper with the cards other than opening them.

And Nellie Hayse, executive director of A Place for Girls in Chesapeake, the Girl Scout Center that oversees two games in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, finds it hard to believe anyone could identify winning game cards by holding them up to the light. The game cards have cardboard backing, she said.

Defending bingo's reputation is important, Hayse said. Most volunteers are parents and Girl Scouts. And if bingo receipts decline, girls will be the ones to suffer.

``The money helps them have local Girl Scouting,'' Hayse said.

Others see the investigation as good news.

The Virginia Charitable Gaming Commission protects legitimate charities by weeding out criminals, said Debbie Tibbitt, who leases Witchduck Hall to the little league, the American Red Cross and other groups that make money from bingo.

``The gaming commission has done a terrific job,'' said Tibbitt, who inspects the annual reports of all the organizations to whom she rents space and supports state regulation of bingo. ``They have a hard job, but it's good for player confidence and it's good for the industry as a whole.''

Handy said she doesn't need a state commission to look out for her interests. Handy knows which bingo halls are crooked and which aren't, she said.

``That's why I come here,'' Handy said. ``I could tell you which places cheat. This place is honest, the people are nice and I enjoy myself. It's very relaxing.''

And on Wednesday, she won $500. MEMO: Staff writer John-Henry Doucette contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

The controversy surrounding the management of many local bingo

operations isn't scaring all the players away. Mary Kruse of

Virginia Beach tries her luck Wednesday at Witchduck Hall. KEYWORDS: BINGO EMBEZZLEMENT FRAUD

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