News reaching us from Montreal, Canada this week regarding a substantial sum of prize money, warnings and clear breaches, and it’s pretty alarming stuff! A Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu bingo hall recently receive a warning for going ahead with a bingo event despite being warned against it by public health guidelines. Some 250 people attended the event which led to the bingo group being served its first penalty notice.
A few days later, another event was organized and this time, 170 attendees turned up in the hope of winning $100K in cash! The police in the region were called to the venue and all of the organizers and staff were sent home. That’s two instances of breaking the Covid rules in just a few days! What was the group’s excuse? “The guidelines are confusing!” Well call me stupid, but if you’re advised against doing something, you listen!
Colourful Confusion
The city in the Monteregie region of Canada was in the second-highest alert level for restrictions at the time, moving to the most sever level; red, on October 16th. Orange zones were informed that there should be no more than 25 people inside a bingo hall at any one time, since there has been a spike in cases linked to a bingo venue back on October 4th.
HR Community Bingo, the organisers behind these bingo events, posted to its Facebook page after the police were called to explain that they would now be closing down temporarily, but not because of their failure to follow the guidelines, but because of moving from orange to the most severe red zone. The bingo group also tried to put their point across that they thought they could carry on as normal!
Eric Castonguay, the executive director of Le Secrétariat du Bingo, has spoken out saying the event where $100K was up for grabs was not your ‘usual’ bingo event. Instead, it was a ‘commercia’ event which falls under the Quebec liquor and gaming regulations (the same with casinos). Public health guidelines for these venues in orange zones is a maximum of 6 people to a table with no limit to the number specified for the entire venue.
Health Minister Christian Dubé slammed the bingo organisers after the event and said there is no excuse for their actions and that a large-scale bingo event is ill-advised during the current pandemic. He said: "I'm sorry, but that's a lack of judgment. Please use your judgment and make sure that we protect our people — especially those that would be more affected." Dubé added that he didn’t want “bingo to become the karaoke from a few weeks ago!”
Source: “Police Called to Another Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu Bingo Event of More than 150 People”. CBC News. October 15, 2020.
Your feedback
Please enter your comment.
Your comment is added.
Comments (1)
Bubles12
10/19/20, 06:10:22 AM
Offering such a vast sum of money was only going to do one thing – attract more customers! The rules are clear enough for everyone else, so why not them?
