Looking to reverse a post-Christmas drop in attendance at its weekly fundraising bingo, the Elmira Lions Club will boost jackpots when games resume in September.

Rod Martin, past club president and co-chair of bingo, said bingo was going better than the previous two years at the beginning of last year, but things changed when the calendar rolled into 2014.

“Following Christmas it dropped off quite a bit,” said Martin. “I think largely in part due to the horrific winter we had. It was minus-30, people don’t really want to go out.”

They expected it to change after the weather improved, but no such luck. He said they get a lot of their business from word of mouth and he hopes bingo will improve come the fall.

“The only way Lions works is through fundraisers like bingo,” said Martin. “If those projects aren’t successful we don’t have as much money to support those groups who seek money from us. That’s why it’s so important for this bingo to be successful.”

He said they have a steady group of regulars, 30 to 35 people, who come out every week without fail. Bert Martin, co-chair, said they need about 41 people to break even, which was their regular attendance from January to June.

“Prior to that it was 59 so we were making some nice cash that we could give to groups,” Bert said. “We need to get those numbers up. We’re just not sure what to do to make that happen.”

Rod said the regulars have no complaints about their events, and as regulars to other bingos in the area, that’s saying something. The jackpots will increase from $500 and $750 to $750 and $1,000.

Since the decline in attendance they’ve had to refuse requests for donations from some organizations. Almost every week they get a couple new people they’ve never seen before. And contrary to popular opinion, they have men playing too.

“Something like bingo certainly has the means to be our club’s biggest fundraiser. We’re not that far off of having it be that way,” said Martin. “It’s certainly in our top few. Had the whole year progressed the way it started it would have been our number one money grabber, no question.”

They have two different sized bingo books to pick from. To play you must buy one size of two books. One book has 15 games and the other has nine playing areas. They sell for $18 and $13. You can buy as many as you want, but you’ll have to be fast when the numbers are called.

“You can’t come in and spend $3, the problem would be is you could conceivably win all the prizes,” said Rod. “It’s hardly likely, but it’s not fair. At the end of the day, this is a money maker for us. We can’t give away a $50 prize if they’re spending a buck.”

The way the jackpots work is if you get a full card in 54 numbers drawn or less you win the $500. If you get a full card in more than 54 numbers drawn you get $150. The $750 jackpot is progressive. If someone wins the jackpot one week, the next week you have to get a full card in 50 numbers drawn or less. If it’s more than 50 numbers drawn, the prize is only $150. If nobody wins, the next week you have 51 numbers drawn to win from, and so on.

Bert said their largest turnout was 120 people for a special fundraiser for a specific group two years ago.

“What we’re thinking of doing is having special nights for groups and hope we get support from those groups to come out and play bingo,” said Bert Martin.

He said they would have generated between $20,000 and $25,000 this year if attendance had kept up. They’ve raised about that much in total over the past three years.

“I’d like to average about 60 people a night,” said Bert Martin. “We could generate some good income.”