Massachusetts Treasurer Timothy Cahill is looking for a new way to increase the flagging lottery revenues for the state. One major idea is a televised bingo game once a week. Bingo is not commonly associated with heavy gambling and Cahill hopes that bingo’s popularity will draw more lottery players to the game, which has suffered profit losses due to the number of nearby out-of-state casinos and the abundance of online gambling options.

Opponents of the plan say that bingo, generally the realm of charitable organizations, is a social experience, and that the televised game would lose the social aspects. Despite Cahill’s assurances that the televised game would make an effort not to encroach on the territory of churches and synagogues in Massachusetts, there is stiff opposition to the plan.

Cahill faced similar objections from racetracks when he introduced an idea of video keno machines which would be “virtual horse racing.” But now Cahill is facing new objections. Opponents of the plan say that a lottery bingo game would be another way to effectively tax senior citizens and the poor. Opponents say that the lottery should be looking for way to cut back on lottery operations, and that the state shouldn’t rely on lottery funding at all.