Colorado’s freshman board overseeing the state’s $110 million charitable gaming industry last week created a committee to tackle issues raised in a Denver Gazette investigation that exposed, among other issues, poor supervision and illegal operators.

The Colorado Charitable Gaming Board, in only its second meeting since the Denver Gazette series ran in October, unanimously formed a public relations committee whose first task will be to review the newspaper’s findings and potentially make recommendations for change.

“There were significant allegations in there and it gets back to our specific purpose,” board member Tom Downey said in proposing the committee and its approach. “There were a number of things that jumped out at me and it’s important to get a sense of what it said. Are there things that raise alarms and are there things we can do?”

The Denver Gazette’s findings included evidence that convicted felons were certified as games managers, a specific prohibition by law. The newspaper also documented how some charities that rely on bingo to raise funds have devised ways to remunerate the volunteers who conduct those games, also prohibited by law.

Additionally, the investigation found that a number of charities receive very little of any of the proceeds of their bingo nights – the money that’s left over after prize monies are paid out to players – and, in several cases, the charities are grossly misreporting what they make to the IRS. In at least one instance, a charity that made millions of dollars on bingo hadn’t reported any of it to the federal government in at least two decades.

The board was created more than a year ago, replacing one that was so dysfunctional that state officials for years couldn’t even coax its membership to meet. The new board took months to find anyone willing to serve and did so only after The Denver Gazette’s investigation was published.

Board members were told Friday that the Secretary of State’s office, which regulates charitable gaming, doesn’t do background checks of any applicants for a games manager license and that any endeavor could be an expensive one.

Board member Richard Lemon wondered how The Denver Gazette was able to find its information so quickly, and a staff member said they didn’t know what service the newspaper used for its findings.

“I talked to that reporter and he was able to research people quickly and figure out if that person was vetted or not,” Lemon said. “He was pretty confident who was a felon and who wasn’t. How’s that possible for him and not the Secretary of State?

The Denver Gazette had cross-referenced the Secretary of State’s database of licensed games managers with Colorado’s Judicial Department records of criminal convictions. It did not use any background investigation service.

Board chairman Maytham Alshadood said the new committee could find that fixes need to made be at the state Capitol.

“I’ve read those articles and there could be statutory (fixes) there to shore up those gaps,” he said.

Board member Ben Vagher noted that the prohibition on felons extends only to games managers, not the licensed professionals who provide the gaming halls or the materials needed to play the games.

“If we’re going down that road (to require background checks) then we’d better be prepared to (expand it) because more than just games managers are running these games,” he said.

The board’s next meeting is yet to be scheduled. It is expected to name the members of the public relations committee at that point. Board member Michelle Kelly did not attend.