Sheriff Joe Benison recently provided a statement of the first disbursements of bingo receipts from the Frontier  Bingo issued through Dreams, Inc.

When questioned about a distribution for May from Frontier, Sheriff Benison said, “We’re still working on that.”

The  disbursements made by Sheriff Benison on July 5  represented the second distribution of Greenetrack’s bingo receipts for the year 2011.

These funds were directed to the sheriff’s office, the county commission and the four municipalities in the county.

When Benison took office as sheriff he designed his own bingo rules and regulations which included taxing each bingo machine per month for specific allocations to the sheriff’s office, the county commission and the four municipalities.

In regards to non-profits seeking bingo licenses in Greene County,  the sheriff’s rules also state that “authorized non-profit organizations need not be domiciled in the state of Alabama. There shall be no limit on the number of non-profit organizations which may operate Bingo games in a Bingo facility.”

“Section 4 of the Greene County Bingo Rules of regulating that I, Johnathan M. Benison, as Sheriff of Greene County adopted requires certain payments be made on a monthly basis. Nevertheless, as a result of the June 1, 2011 raid on Frontier Bingo by the Attorney General, this shall be the last payment issued from my office from Bingo Machine Revenue until further notice.

“In accordance with my Bingo Rules and Regulations and Constitutional Amendment 743, the following allocated funds were distributed for the month of April, 2011,” said Benison.

Frontier’s First Bingo Alloction

Greene County Commission – 500 machines @$95 per machine – $47,500.

Greene County Sheriff’s Office- 500 machines @$35 per machine – $17,500.

City of Eutaw – 500 machines @$20 per machine – $10,000.

City of Forkland – 500 machines @$10 per machine – $5,000.

City of Boligee – 500 machines @$10 per machine – $5,000.

City of Union – 500 machines @$10 per machine – $5,000.

Total funds for the month of April 2011 – $90,000

Sheriff Benison noted that although Frontier Bingo did not have 500 machines in use, they still paid the allotted amount per 500 machines in accordance with the Greene County Bingo Rules and Regulations adopted by him.

This was the first bingo allocation from Frontier operations according to Benison.

Greenetrack CEO Luther Winn said that the distribution published in this newspaper last week was the second distribution from bingo since they reopened in 2011.