The Muncie Downtown Development Partnership, a non-profit organization that seeks to increase the viability of businesses in the downtown district of Muncie, Indiana, has fallen on hard times. The group's funding sources have essentially dried up, with only minimal allocations coming from the city to buffer its revenues gained from hosting downtown events. Where to turn for funding? Bingo!

Already this fall, outgoing Director of the Downtown Development Partnership, Brian Lough, had started the application process for the appropriate bingo licenses. If local bingo operating success is anything to go by, should the Downtown Development Partnership try its hand at bingo, they would likely no longer be strapped for cash. The Knights of Columbus Council 560, another local organization, netted $675,945 from gross bingo receipts of almost $6 million last year. Based on these and similar figures, the group estimates that it can raise thousands of dollars to finance its monthly operations, meaning about $500,000 a year, were it to begin running bingo games.

Support for introducing bingo to the non-profit's activities is not unanimous, however, with some merchants in downtown Muncie having reservations about such a move. Due to the discord between these community members on the one hand and bingo's local advocates on the other, no definite action is expected until Spring of next year.