Push for Legalized Video Poker
July 10, 2009
Video poker supporters have come forward to talk to those in their state
government, to see if they can get North Carolina to legalize the machines
again. The House and the Senate have both said that they will not make video
poker legal again the state, but supporters want them to see how beneficial
it could be for everyone if they would simply look at the issue again.
Video poker could conceivably bring in more than $400 million a year for the
state, and they say that this could substantially help out the shortfall in
the budget. The video poker industry said that they would bring strict
controls with it this time, and that the state is not looking at this as the
big money maker it would be.
However, Rep. Rick Glazier said that his group heard the video poker bill
and that they would not be passing it along – that this was as far as it was
going to go. They say that video poker is not the way to fund the budget,
and that the old video poker problems that they had would simply resurface
if they allowed it to become legal again.
When video poker was legal in North Carolina there were many complaints
about abuse and corruption and illegal cash payouts. They were located in
bars and convenience stores around the state and the problems that they had
drastically outweighed any of the benefits that they had. The bill that they
are talking about would make the video poker machines not just legal but
they would be wired to a central computer in the Department of Revenue who
would be able to monitor play, payouts and income.
