(1) Any nonprofit organization holding a certificate of exemption under section 501(c)(3), (c)(4), (c)(5), (c)(8), (c)(10), or (c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code or any volunteer fire company or volunteer first-aid, rescue, ambulance, or emergency squad may apply for a license to conduct bingo.

(2) Prior to applying for any license, an organization shall:

(a) Be incorporated in this state as a not-for-profit corporation or organized in this state as a religious or not-for-profit organization. For purposes of this subsection, a domesticated foreign corporation shall not be considered incorporated in this state as a not-for-profit corporation;

(b) Conduct activities within this state in addition to the conduct of bingo;

(c) Be authorized by its constitution, articles, charter, or bylaws to further in this state a lawful purpose;

(d) Operate without profit to its members, and no part of the net earnings of such organization shall inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual; and

(e) Have been in existence for five years immediately preceding its application for a license, and shall have had during that five-year period a bona fide membership actively engaged in furthering a lawful purpose. A society defined in section 21-608 which is chartered in Nebraska under a state, grand, supreme, national, or other governing body may use the charter date of its parent organization to satisfy such five-year requirement.

(3) None of the provisions of this section shall prohibit a senior citizens group from organizing and conducting bingo pursuant to the Nebraska Bingo Act when bingo is played only by members of the senior citizens group conducting the bingo. For purposes of this section, senior citizens group shall mean any organization the membership of which consists entirely of persons who are at least sixty years old.