Drive-in bingo games come to Greater Sudbury

A Bingo player dabs their card at drive-in Bingo at the Brockville Speedway on Tuesday. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

SUDBURY — Faye Campeau and her mother Donna Marois were eager to get back to playing the game that they love.

"Mom’s been going to bingo for years and her friends are here she was actually looking to see if she could see anybody here just to catch up this is there thing there event their social event," says Campeau.

"So its hard right now because everybody’s wearing their masks and you don’t know who’s in each vehicle but that’s a great part of bingo not just the elderly but people who come just the social aspect after COVID."

The mother daughter duo were just two of 173 players that attended the first drive in bingo game at Delta Bingo and Gaming Val Caron location on Saturday.

Officials here say games will alternate between this location and the bingo hall in Sudbury every two weeks. Players simply drive in, park, and tune to 107.5.

"They’ll have their board, their dabber, their cards that they’ll kind of pick up on their drive through, they’ll park, and if they have a winning pattern they will honk their horn, yell out the window, flash their lights anything to get our attention," says Shawn Fisher, Chief Operations Officer Delta Bingo & Gaming.

Players have a chance to win anywhere between $100-$2,000 at the games.

Fisher says while it’s been great to get players back to Delta facilities, it’s also important that the game continues so that deserving charities across Ontario can receive much needed dollars.

“Our company itself, we’ve got about 950 charities that we support across the province. 150 of those are in Greater Sudbury and during the pandemic with the shutdown at a time when most of these charities needed us more than ever you know we haven’t been able to raise.”

Fisher adds that drive in bingo games will continue for as long as the weather allows or until COVID-19 restrictions ease and customers are allowed inside bingo halls again.

All attending cars are required to reserve a parking spot prior to event date. Reservation fee is $10 per vehicle and is non-refundable.

Only vehicles who have reserved a parking space will be permitted entry to the parking lot on game day.