BingoGate: Inside Greene County’s $5M Sheriff Scandal

Greene County, Alabama—new state audit filed Oct 3 covering Oct 1, 2018–Apr 30, 2024 says Sheriff Jonathan M. Benison’s office owes ~$4.97M after partial relief on $5.34M in undocumented bingo spending. For a decade, basic controls were ignored: no monthly bank reconciliations, incomplete cashbooks, late deposits, missing receipts—even on sensitive fees. This is what happens when law enforcement runs a gambling business: the ref becomes the house. Based on this record, Greene County is one of—if not THE—most corrupt counties in Alabama, running neck-and-neck with Walker County.