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Video Poker Safe For Now
The video poker terminals of North Carolina are in no danger of becoming a
legal casualty of a new state lottery law in North Carolina, at least not
yet. The parties opposed to video poker and want the gaming action banned
altogether are not yet ruling out using the new lottery as a means of
curtailing the use of the terminals, however.
Governor Mike Easley himself stated last autumn at a press conference for
the new legislation that the state sponsored gambling could lead to an end
of video poker.
“The governor has said before that he believe the lottery will do away with
the video poker industry, but it will be up to the General Assembly
regarding legislation on the matter,” Sherri Johnson, Easley’s press
secretary, said in a statement.
The North Carolina lottery commission has said that it does not believe that
it has the authority to require that retailers applying to sell lottery
tickets take video poker terminals off their premises.
“They really determined that the commission does not have the statutory
authority to even address it,” Pam Walker, a spokesperson for the NC
Education Lottery, said. “If there are any changes, then the Legislature
would have to do that.”
Attempts to ban video poker in the states by state Senator Charlie Albertson
(D-Duplin) have so far been unsuccessful. While he would like to see a state
wide ban, he would consider a ban at lottery outlets a step forward.
“Anything we could do to curtail or diminish it, certainly we could do
that,” Albertson said. “I’d certainly be happy to see that, but I’d be
happier to see it banned from the state.”
Other politicians, such as House Speaker Jim Black (D-Meclenburg) have
blocked attempts to ban video poker, in the belief that this would cost many
North Carolinians their jobs.
“We could look at this issue, but I think we would have to keep in mind that
anything we do that affect the video poker industry might hurt jobs. I have
always been consistent in that my position on the video poker industry is
about jobs,” Black said.
The president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council, Bill Brooks,
agrees with Albertson, and would like to see video poker banned entirely.
“Video poker is one of those activities that have no tangible benefits. We
should just get rid of them,” he said. “It’s not going to hurt people to get
rid of gambling.”
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