LITTLE ROCK—Several lawmakers pledged Wednesday to try to repeal a tax on charitable bingo games that nonprofit groups say cut into money that would go toward helping others.

Representatives of Veterans of Foreign War and American Legion posts around the state urged legislators at a hearing to drop the tax and allow local officials to enforce the game’s rules. Gov. Mike Beebe later said he’s open to reviewing the tax but opposed to repealing it entirely.

The 1-cent tax on each bingo game card has been the biggest target of complaints from groups since the state legalized bingo and raffles for charitable purposes. Voters approved legalizing the games in 2006 and lawmakers last year approved the tax to help pay for enforcement of the new regulations.

Several members of a legislative panel reviewing those regulations said the Legislature needs to repeal the tax.

“It’s a very simple fix. All we have to do is take the tax off, remove it and go from there,” Rep. Tommy Dickinson, D-Newport, said.

One proposal reviewed by the Joint Performance Review Committee would eliminate the 1-cent tax on the bingo card faces, a levy that operators say has tripled the cost of the cards that they bought before the games were legalized in the state. The measure would also require bingo operates to renew their licenses with the state every three years for $100 rather than an annual $100 renewal.

Before the new rules and despite a constitutional prohibition against lotteries, some groups throughout Arkansas held regular bingo games and raffles. The state in the 1990s licensed illegal games and from 1995 to 1999 taxed their operations. After a prosecutor shut down a number of games at Jonesboro in 1997, bingo operators complained, citing the state permits.

Bingo operators said the new taxes have cut into their ability to raise money for charitable causes such as scholarships that they’ve funded with the proceeds.

“It intimidates and discourages nonprofits from taking advantage of the amendment,” said Bill Shaffer, manager of the bingo program for the Prairie Grove American Legion post.

Sen. Dave Bisbee, who said he thinks the taxes on bingo is excessive, meanwhile noted the irony of the groups complaining about how cheap the operations were when they were technically breaking the law.

“I have found it’s almost always more profitable to be illegal than legal,” Bisbee, R-Rogers, said.

Other proposals lawmakers said they’re weighing for next year’s session include a proposal to increase the maximum amounts of cash prizes for bingo. The proposals also call for moving regulation of the bingo operators from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration to local law enforcement and prosecutors.

John Theis, assistant revenue commissioner, said the agency was concerned that removing the state’s oversight of the bingo operators could lead to uneven enforcement in different parts of the state.