Despite attendance drop, game fills social, fundraising needs

They shuffle into the Emerson Community Center a little before 7 p.m.; sipping coffee and enjoying a complimentary piece of pound cake, they make small talk.

“How’s your granddaughter?” one elderly lady asks.

“Oh, she’s just a sweetheart, made varsity softball this year, ya know,” her companion responds.

As the clock strikes 7 p.m., Linda Westover, who hosted the April 27 bi-monthly event along with her husband Dennis, picks up the microphone to announce the rules.

Everyone takes a seat.

“N-37,” Dennis announces as he flips a switch illuminating the number on the board.

The crowd remains in a state of silent concentration until someone inevitably yells, “Bingo,” destroying everyone else’s hopes of winning until the next round.

The Emerson Community Club has sponsored a bi-monthly bingo game at the community center for decades, at least 30 years, according to Linda, though she said it’s likely more.

While the Westovers don’t belong to the club, they’ve been volunteering to work bingo once a year since they moved to the community in 1982.

“Only doing it once a year, I tend to get a little nervous,” Linda said at the start of the night. “I have to remember all the rules and what I need to keep track of. It gets easier as the night goes on.”

The April 27 bingo night attracted about 20 players, most of which were regulars, according to Linda.

She said attendance varies every week, but 20 participants was a pretty big turn out. Some weeks it gets as low at eight.

“It feels like bingo is dying,” she said. “Young people today are more mobile; they want to get out and go. The olderpeople who come here are more sedentary … The biggest population in the community is the 50-60-year-old age group, which maybe isn’t quite at the bingo age yet. Maybe when the population shifts more people will come, but I don’t know.”

Decreasing bingo attendance has been a trend throughout the country since the late 1990s, according to a 2006 article in the Indian Gaming magazine.

While the article explained part of the decrease of traditional bingo attendance can be placed on the backs of casinos and electronic bingo machines, that doesn’t seem to be the case in rural southwest Iowa.

According to an iowa.gov gaming commission article in 2012, there are 15 excursion gambling boats in the state, three racetrack enclosures and three Native American Indian Casinos. While four casinos and a dog track lie less than an hour from Emerson in Council Bluffs, Emerson bingo players don’t seem interested in any higher stakes gambling.

“It’s just fun to get together and play,” Opal Gage said.

Gage has been attending the bi-monthly bingo game for years and comes mainly for the company.

“It’s not the gambling, really, it’s just something to do,” she added. 

Linda agreed, saying even if the casinos were closer, the regular Emerson Community Club bingo crowd would probably still prefer their hometown game.

Slightly farther from Council Bluffs, Red Oak Eagles Club member and bingo announcer John Haidsiak said he too doesn’t think casinos are a major deterrent for bingo games in Red Oak.

“Maybe it impacts us a little,” Haidsiak said. “The southeast part of the state has a lot of bingo and does really well because there are no casinos around. We hold our own here just fine, though.”

The Eagles have offered bingo every Tuesday night since 2000, according to Haidsiak, and all the proceeds benefit the 14 charities the club supports.

Haidsiak said attendance was pretty low when they first started the bingo night 13 years ago, but the last several years it’s been pretty consistent at about 25-30 a week, almost all of which are regulars.

As the jackpot increases, so does attendance, he said.

“It’s a good time; unless you [anger] those old girls by hollering bingo first,” he joked.

While the Eagles’ bingo night is doing okay, Haidsiak agreed with Linda saying the game just isn’t as popular as it used to be.

He wasn’t able to answer why, though.

Linda, on the other hand, had an idea.

“I think most people just find more entertainment in front of the TV,” she said. “The art of communication is lost. It’s a community here when you come and play. You don’t get that if you just sit at home and play a game or do whatever.”

The feeling of community seemed to trump the chance of winning a few extra dollars in Emerson, several players agreed.

“This small town is like a big family,” Mary Steinman said as she cheered on every person who won bingo. “It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s just good company and socialize; that’s what it’s all about.”