A House panel surrounded by allies of Co-Speaker Jim Black on Wednesday approved a rewrite of North Carolina’s video poker regulations that the industry says will clamp down on illegal machines while keeping thousands of its employees working.
The proposal, backed by a 19-11 vote in the House Finance Committee, would transfer enforcement of the rules for the estimated 9,000 legal machines and unknown number of illegal machines from local sheriffs to state alcohol law agents.
The Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement Judi Online24jam Deposit Uang also would stand to receive $2.3 million annually from a new $300 fee collected on each of the machines. The proceeds would go in part to employ 24 new ALE agents and staff. Any person who has an illegal machine seized would be subject to a $5,000 tax.
Rep. Bill Culpepper, D-Chowan, a chief lieutenant for Black who pushed the changes, said the effectiveness of the 2000 law giving sheriffs enforcement powers “is spotty at best.”
The proposal “makes it so law enforcement can enforce the law,” Culpepper said.
Several other groups, including the North Carolina Sheriffs Association and the socially conservative N.C. Family Policy Council, said the current law has failed to slowly kill the industry, as supporters contended four years ago.
While Black, D-Mecklenburg, has said tougher regulations are the answer, opponents argue that a total ban of all machines is the way to go. South Carolina has enacted a similar ban.
North Carolina limits the number of machines Judi Online24jam Deposit Uang at any one location and allows only prize payouts worth $10 or less.
Anson County Sheriff Tommy Allen Jr. told the committee that corruption within the industry is widespread. On a recent wave of undercover video poker raids in his county, his deputies found no operators following the payout rules.
The deputies either would be “paid off in cash, or they said, ‘I really can’t pay you, you might be the police,'” Allen said.
The state industry also has been the subject of a two-year federal investigation, generating 16 indictments and convictions.
Stories of illegal machines and customers thousands of dollars in debt shouldn’t overshadow more positive stories of the majority of Judi Online24jam Deposit Uang owners who are only trying to make a living, a speaker said.
“We are hardworking small business owners that are involved in our community,” said George Trent Jr. with Trent Brothers Music Inc. in Reidsville.
Bill supporters released figures showing a loss of up to 19,500 jobs with salaries of up to $232 million if a ban were in place, based on revenues earned by convenience stores and bars that lease the machines and depend.
