By Mike Dwyer

mdwyer@joplinglobe.com

The Joplin Shrine Club will pull the plug tonight on its Tuesday night bingo game, closing the door on a 21-year tradition.

William “Dub” Haws, Shrine Club rajah and bingo caller, said increased competition from Oklahoma casinos and Internet gambling sites forced the game’s end.

“It was about two years ago,” Haws said. “We started getting more casinos, and we really started losing people. Our crowds went from 260 to 240 to 200. The last couple of weeks, it’s been 41.”

He said the Shrine Club lost $650 on last week’s game. Money from the games normally goes to 22 Shriners Hospitals, which provide free orthopedic care, and treatment for burns and spinal-cord injuries of children. Haws said it costs nearly $1.7 million a day to maintain Shriners Hospitals.

He said the Joplin Shrine Club will look to selling onions, Christmas trees, fruit and candy to make up lost bingo revenue.

The club offered jackpots escalating by $100 weekly, beginning at $500 and capping at $1,199. Haws said tonight’s turnout likely will be good because of a $1,199 jackpot.

“We have a lot of loyal players, but the loyal players have just dropped out more and more and more,” he said. “A lot of people think that bingo is an old person’s game, but it’s not. It’s fun for everybody.”

The club has made $50,000 to $75,000 with its bingo game in some years, Haws said.

He said the Joplin Oriental Band will continue to offer Wednesday night bingo at the Shrine Club, 1040 S. Joplin Ave.

Retha McLaughlin, 85, of Joplin, said she’ll probably stay home on Tuesdays now that the activity she’s enjoyed for 21 years is ending.

“My husband’s deceased, and has been for 10 years, and it just gives me a night out,” she said. “I hate to see them close, but I guess that’s the way it goes.”

Haws said the club’s regular players have become a community. He said when one regular is missing, another will call him or her to check in and give the others a status report.

He said the club started notifying players two weeks ago that tonight would be the last night.