The County Commission in Houston County Alabama has been hard at work creating new regulations for bingo operations. The Commission has stated they want bingo to benefit the residents of the county so the proposed regulations should do just that.

The Commission has proposed that additional fees be assess from the bingo machines to increase revenue for the county. The fees would be allotted per machine for profit. The Commission would also like to see more restrictive legislation. The legislation would slow down the growth of bingo facilities entering the county.

The Commission wants to see a change in the original resolution that was approved this past February. They would like to see it improved to better serve the county. Three changes are being considered that will affect proposed bingo facilities. One such facility that has been proposed is called County Crossing.

Country Crossing is a proposed project where the operators would like to bring charitable bingo to the area. Since this proposal, the Commission has been trying to find a way to approve the project and bring revenue to their area.

The Chairman of the Houston County Commission, Mark Culver stated: “All of the information we have is that the project is going to happen, and this is our stand and the commission will be behind the project.”

Along with the proposed per bingo machine fee, the Commission would also like to see that the businesses who are planning on building bingo facilities invest a minimum of $200 million in capital on their project.

Culver stated that the Commission would like to tie economic development to the bingo operations so the project has to be large in order to operate. Residents in the area have expressed concern over the subject of bingo but the Commission has stated the move will be positive for the economic development of the area.



- 2008-09-19