Stricter Bingo Laws are imposed in Houston County

by Hollie Sanders

The commissioners have just voted for stricter Bingo laws in Houston County and they also imposed county fees on electronic bingo machines. It does not seem like a day goes by at the moment without some sort of bingo news or another coming out on the USA and with each different state in America you will find varying degrees of bingo law legislation and I for one am glad it is not like that in the UK as is one rule for all here no matter what part of the UK you are in.

These new bingo laws that have just been passed in Houston County mean that their county stands to be quids in now especially with the opening of County Crossings, which is said to be a multimillion dollar branson like entertainment venue. Current plans for Country Crossings call for 1500 bingo machines, which mean $1.5 million dollars in revenue for the county, so you can see why these new bingo rules are going to prove to be very beneficial for Houston County.

A 17 page resolution of new bingo laws were given the go ahead at a meeting held by the commissioners on Monday and there has been many, many changes made to the current bingo rules for this state. Houston County Commission Chairman, Mark Culver, said, “We need that economic stimulus right now, but we don’t want it everywhere and this is just additional attempts to make it more difficult to operate. We’ve got regulations on any development even the one coming here has to meet those regulations.”

The new bingo rules now mean that they are stricter and will close any potential loop holes in the law. One of the other biggest change in these new bingo laws mean that bingo has to be tied to an economic development with a minimum investment of $200 million dollars, plus all electronic bingo machines must now carry a $1000 dollar annual stamp.

It was also said that the new bingo rules were modelled on bingo laws in both Etowah and Walker County, so they must be working well at both these states for Houston County to have implemented them so swiftly.