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Several Austin bingo halls told to close after confusion over reopening

One manager says his hall reopened after the city gave him the go-ahead. However, the city says bingo halls can't be operating right now.

AUSTIN, Texas — It started with a couple of questions from viewers: Can bingo halls be open right now? 

The City of Austin said the simple answer is no. It said, under the current order, bingo halls are nonessential businesses, meaning they should not be open right now. 

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Three Austin locations said the city gave them the okay. The manager of two of the locations said they are allowed to operate because they are a charitable organization. However, the City of Austin said that wouldn't make a difference.

Ben White Bingo, Balcones Bingo and North Lamar Bingo were all open and operating, according to their websites and social media accounts. KVUE also spoke with them on the phone to confirm this. 

However, Code Enforcement, Austin Fire Department and Austin Police Department showed up at at least one of the bingo halls on Wednesday afternoon to shut it down. 

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Michael Tawil, the manager of North Lamar Bingo, said they showed up to his other location, Balcones Bingo, too. 

Tawil said his attorneys asked the City of Austin and Gov. Greg Abbott's office whether he could reopen his bingo halls, and they told him he could.

"On Friday, a code enforcement, a police officer, and a fire marshal all came at the same time. They walked around the bingo hall, checked out fire extinguishers. I have their cards and everything. They said, 'Y'all are doing a great job of keeping everybody spread out and with your hand sanitizer stations and everything," Tawil said.

KVUE asked whether this was an approval to operate as opposed to a fire safety inspection. 

"Yeah, they gave us the OK," he said. "Nobody is really communicating with each other on what is going on. We look forward to the future when we'll be able to reopen again and provide for our local charities." 

Tawil said they had been operating under guidelines like socially-distant seating, temperature checks before entering, hand sanitizer stations, and wearing masks. 

KVUE reached out to the governor's office but had not heard back at the time of this story's publication. 

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