Ronnie Gilley says that these changes do not affect his plans to bring Country Crossing to Houston County and that he will be delivering these requirements without fail.
"It certainly does not prohibit our project, our project has been at 300 million dollar plus project since the beginning,” says Gilley
Monday, commissioners voted on a change that says 200 million dollars must be invested into a bingo facility and it has to be for economic purposes.
There will also be a $1,000 annual fee per bingo machine County Crossing's bingo facility is expected to start with 1500 machines.
"We are glad to be able to participate in increasing tax revenues, I think it was brilliant on the behalf of the commission to give a tax fee." says Gilley
In order to operate, each bingo machine must have a county stamp that will be issued annually when the fee is paid.
The money will go into the county general fund and will go toward special projects. In addition to this, the charity donations must also come rolling in.
"There's a 2 million dollar guarantee that will go toward the Houston County Foundation which will then be distributed into the county for charities, this fee and stamp that we addressed today will not impact that at all, that guarantee is still there," says Mark Culver, Chairman of the Houston Co. Commission
According to Gulver, the rest of the commission, and Gilley, these changes are also a defense against turning Houston County into a gambling Mecca.
"Our objective, one more time is entertainment and to turn this into a resort, entertainment destination, it is not bingo if you will. The point is to turn it into a tourist destination location, and if you don’t put some regulation in place than perhaps you could have debacles like those that are going on in northern Alabama with a bingo facility on every corner."
Of course, there have been some delays on Country Crossing's groundbreaking, the latest being phase 2 archeological study that is being done on the land. Ronnie Gilley did not want to give an exact time frame but he says things are moving along as planned.