Governments have pooh-poohed any suggestion that bossy bingo could be rigged, but that hasn’t stopped people from suggesting this type of gambling might be up to its calves in questionable practices.
Bossy bingo, as it is known in Ontario, cow patty bingo in the West and cow stool pool in the Maritimes, is a form of gaming. The object is to corral off a square area, marked with a numbered grid, run a cow into the pen and let nature take its course.
Tickets are sold for each of the numbered squares. Once Bossy has dropped her patty on one of the squares, the person with the ticket number matching the square wins the prize – but not always without some participants calling foul.
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Limited to charities and churches for fund-raising, the cowpie lotteries require licences from the liquor and gaming departments of each province for nominal fees.
“We’ve heard the odd complaint over the years, but very odd. No one has ever been charged with rigging one of these events … but we still will not issue a licence for it. The municipality may, if they wish,” said Ab Campion, of the Ontario Gaming Control Commission.
Ontario’s lottery licensing policy manual, section 16.1.1 – Bossy Bingo states that “… in order to be lawful a lottery licence would be required. While this scheme may, on the outset, sound fun, it raises a number of concerns which affect its ability to be licensed.”
Others scoff at those concerns.
“I don’t think it could be rigged. Training a cow to deposit on a specific square would be a little tough, don’t you think,” said Myron Gulka-Tiechko, a manager with Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Commission.
“We’ve never had to inspect a case of this kind and I’m not sure I’d want to. I’m afraid I’d know where we’d have to start,” said one Saskatchewan gaming inspector who wishes to remain anonymous.
Nova Scotia’s gaming commission recently refused to licence two of the events after the province modified its gaming laws last year. The commission hastily addressed the issue and changed its regulations after a public outcry.
“It really was just an oversight, but people picked up on it right away and had some fun with it,” said David Kinsman, a spokesperson for the Nova Scotia government.
“I don’t think anybody is going to be going away from one these things with a wheelbarrow full of money,” said Paul Weber, acting chief executive officer of the Saskatchewan Gaming Commission.
