April 10: John Lancaster from Floyd, Ark., buys Bingo cards before a game in Bald Knob, Ark. (AP)
BALD KNOB, Ark. – An Arkansas town is banning bingo, in a move that's the first of its kind since the state legalized charitable gaming six years ago.
Bald Knob is about an hour northeast of Little Rock. Religious leaders and residents lobbied for the 3,000-person community to eliminate gambling.
The City Council is banning the only bingo operation in town. It goes into effect May 1.
Some who attend the bingo nights at a senior center are upset over the ban.
Arkansas in 2006 became one of the last states to legalize charitable gaming.
Chad Hills is a gambling research analyst with an affiliate of the Christian group Focus on the Family. Hills says the national market has been saturated by states' allowance of bingo, casinos and lotteries, and communities are pushing back.
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