North Carolina moves to ban video poker

Scott Mooneyham

Friday, June 30, 2000 | 11:06 a.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A Harrah's Enertainment Inc.-operated casino owned by the Eastern Band of the Cherokees would be exempt from a ban on video poker machines approved by the state Senate on Thursday.

Senators voted 29-12 to reword a bill the Senate had sent to the House on Tuesday to exclude already lawful gambling "for any federally recognized Indian Tribe under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act."

The Senate then approve the amended bill 40-3. The measure could be considered by the House as early as today.

"The intent of the bill was not to interfere with what was happening on a federal reservation," said Sen. Allen Wellons, D-Johnston.

The Senate also granted an exemption for manufacturers of video poker machines who transport them to other states.

Earlier in the week, the Senate quickly pushed through legislation outlawing video poker machines in North Carolina in an effort to stem a flood of the machines from South Carolina.

South Carolina's ban on the machines takes effect Saturday.

Legislators in North Carolina border counties say they have already seen a growing number of machines in convenience stores in recent months.

North Carolina had banned any payouts from such machines for decades, but in 1993 began allowing limited payouts of coupons redeemable for up to $10 in merchandise.

Senate leaders worry the law is now being abused with illegal payouts and could further be eroded if some of the 36,000 machines in South Carolina wind up in North Carolina.

The Senate plan makes it illegal to possess any machines that offer video poker, bingo, craps, keno, lotto or games that involve "matching different pictures, words, numbers or symbols." The law would take effect Dec. 1.

Machine owners, who typically operate them on a 50-50 split with the store owners who allow them, say lawmakers could prevent the kind of video casinos that sprang up in South Carolina without an outright ban.

"They are not thinking things out properly. They are reacting instead of acting," said Thomas Jordan, who owns 40 machines, most of them at convenience stores in Brunswick County. "They are just panicking because of South Carolina."

Dan Bailey, a Rocky Mount video machine leaser, said North Carolina's limited payout already serves as a powerful deterrent to the development of the kind of video gambling industry that sprang up in South Carolina.

Jordan and Bailey said a limit of three machines per business, with a further space requirement, would prevent video poker casinos from popping up in North Carolina.

On the Senate floor, at least a few lawmakers questioned whether the ban, coupled with the exemption for Harrah's Cherokee Smoky Mountains Casino, was fair to North Carolinians.

"The reality is we may be acting too quickly on this issue and making mistakes that are going to hurt people without understanding the consequences," said Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg.

Rucho, Sen. Hugh Webster, R-Caswell; and Sen. Bill Martin, D-Guilford, voted against the proposal.