PIGEONS' ROOST, INCORPORATED v. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY and DIVISION OF CHARITABLE GAMING IN THE JUSTICE CABINET
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
RENDERED: May 21, 1999; 10:00 a.m.
TO BE PUBLISHED
C ommonwealth O f K entucky
C ourt O f A ppeals
NO.
1998-CA-000931-MR
PIGEONS' ROOST, INCORPORATED
APPELLANT
APPEAL FROM FRANKLIN CIRCUIT COURT
HONORABLE ROGER CRITTENDEN, JUDGE
ACTION NO. 97-CI-01121
v.
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY and DIVISION OF
CHARITABLE GAMING IN THE JUSTICE CABINET
APPELLEES
OPINION
AFFIRMING
** ** ** ** **
BEFORE:
BUCKINGHAM, COMBS, and McANULTY, Judges.
COMBS, JUDGE:
Pigeons' Roost, Inc., appeals from an order of the
Franklin Circuit Court affirming the Justice Cabinet's revocation
of its charitable gaming license following the appellant's
violation of KRS 238.550(4).
The appellant does not deny that it
violated the provisions of KRS 238.550(4), but it maintains that
the revocation of its license is unconstitutional.
Having
considered the arguments of counsel and applicable authority, we
affirm.
The appellant, a non-profit corporation, applied for
and was first issued a charitable gaming license in 1994.
At
issue in this case is the appellant's operation of bingo games
and sale of "pull-tabs" under a license valid from April 1, 1996,
to May 1, 1997.
During a standard review of the appellant's operations
for the third and fourth quarters of 1996, the Justice Cabinet's
Division of Charitable Gaming ("the Division") discovered that
the charity had violated the provisions of KRS 238.550(4), the
so-called "40% rule."
At that time, KRS 238.550(4) required that
licensees retain at least forty (40) percent of adjusted gross
receipts for a rolling two-quarter period.1
Based upon records
supplied by Pigeons' Roost, the Division noticed that the charity
had failed to retain the required 40% of adjusted gross receipts
from charitable gaming operations.
In fact, Pigeons' Roost had
retained no receipts from its operations in the third and fourth
quarters.
As a result, the Division filed an administrative
complaint against the charity.
Following an administrative
hearing, a hearing officer issued a Recommended Order revoking
the charitable gaming license.
Subsequently, the Secretary of
the Justice Cabinet issued a Final Order affirming the
revocation.
Pigeons' Roost appealed to the Franklin Circuit Court.
Following the submission of briefs and oral arguments, the trial
court upheld the constitutionality of KRS 238.550(4) and affirmed
the administrative revocation of the appellant's charitable
gaming license.
This appeal followed.
1
Under the 1996 version of KRS 238.505(13), "adjusted gross
receipts" means gross receipts less all cash prizes or the cash
value of merchandise prizes.
-2-
On appeal, Pigeons' Roost argues that the revocation of
its license violated substantive due process rights under the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and
Sections 2 and 226 of the Kentucky Constitution.
The appellant
contends that the provisions of KRS 238.550(4) are arbitrary and
unreasonable.
It emphasizes that other statutes included in the
Charitable Gaming Act sufficiently protect the Commonwealth and
charitable gaming as intended by the General Assembly.
We
conclude that the statutory provision under attack in this case
is not unconstitutional.
In response to a 1992 amendment of the Kentucky
Constitution, the General Assembly passed the Charitable Gaming
Act in 1994.
The Act set forth a comprehensive scheme for the
conduct, oversight, and regulation of charitable gaming.
See
Commonwealth v. Louisville Atlantis Community, Ky. App., 971
S.W.2d 810 (1997),
10, 1998).
discretionary review denied, 97-SC-1014 (June
As a part of the comprehensive scheme, KRS 238.550,
entitled "Standards for management and accounting of funds -Quarterly reports," was enacted.
As a result of amendments
effective April 10, 1996, KRS 238.550(4) provided as follows:
At least forty percent (40%) of the adjusted gross
receipts resulting from the conduct of charitable
gaming during each two (2) consecutive calendar
quarters shall be retained by the charitable
organization and used exclusively for purposes
consistent with the charitable, religious, educational,
literary, civic, fraternal, or patriotic functions or
objectives for which the licensed charitable
organization received and maintains federal tax-exempt
-3-
status . . . . No net receipts shall inure to the
private benefit or financial gain any individual.2
Section 2 of the Kentucky Constitution prohibits the
arbitrary exercise of power by state government.3
In order to
pass constitutional muster, a statute must be rationally related
to a legitimate state objective.
Lost Mountain Mining v. Fields,
Ky. App., 918 S.W.2d 232 (1996).
The same standard applies for
alleged due process violations of the Fourteenth Amendment to the
United States Constitution.
"Substantive due process requires
that a statute have a rational relationship to a legitimate
legislative goal."
Kentucky Div., Horsemen's Benevolent &
Protective Ass'n. Inc. v. Turfway Park Racing Ass'n Inc.,, 832 F.
Supp. 1097, 1104 (E.D. Ky. 1993), reversed on other grounds, 20
F.3d 1406 (6th Cir. 1994).
As was noted in Louisville Atlantis,
[c]haritable gaming is an exception to the
constitutional prohibition against lotteries and gift
enterprises. Since the state may prohibit gambling
entirely, it may clearly put limits on charitable
gaming which may not be put on other legitimate
enterprises. Keeping charitable gaming from becoming
commercial, preventing participation by criminals, and
preventing the diversion of funds from legitimate
charitable purposes are all legitimate state
objectives.
971 S.W.2d at 816.
2
In 1996, the original version of KRS 238.550(4) was
renumbered as KRS 238.550(3), and the provisions of KRS
238.550(4) at issue here were added. The provisions of KRS
238.550(4) at issue here have not been included in the current
version of the statute.
3
Section 2 provides that "[a]bsolute and arbitrary power
over the lives, liberty and property of freemen exists nowhere in
a republic, not even in the largest majority."
-4-
We find no merit in the appellant's constitutional
challenge to KRS 238.550(4).
The Commonwealth has an express and
legitimate interest in insuring that gaming receipts are used for
solely charitable purposes and that they are not unwisely or
improperly diverted.
The requirement that a significant portion
of adjusted gross gaming receipts be retained and accounted for
by the charity is rationally related to this state objective.
The requirement to retain 40% of adjusted gross receipts is not
clearly unreasonable.
The appellant's contentions that the "40% rule" is "at
war with good common sense"; that state interests are adequately
safeguarded by other statutory provisions; and that the statutory
requirement fails to provide for those operations which
experience a downturn in gross receipts are not issues of
judicial but of legislative concern.
Again, we find that the
statutory requirement is rationally related to the legitimate
state interest of insuring that funds raised by charitable gaming
actually benefit charitable works.
As a result, we conclude that
the challenged provision is, in fact, constitutional.
Based upon the foregoing, the judgment of the Franklin
Circuit Court is affirmed.
ALL CONCUR.
BRIEF FOR APPELLANT:
BRIEF FOR APPELLEES:
Stanley A. Searcy
Jeffersontown, KY
Christopher M. Hill
Julie A. Cobble
Frankfort, KY
Jennings H. Kearby
Jeffersontown, KY
ORAL ARGUMENT FOR APPELLEE:
ORAL ARGUMENT FOR APPELLANT:
Julie A. Cobble
Frankfort, KY
-5-
Stanley A. Searcy
Jeffersontown, KY
-6-
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.