Game-ban passage uncertain

By: By Travis Fain | SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL
Published: June 23, 2010

RALEIGH

Legislation banning Internet sweepstakes games breezed through the Senate by a 47-1 vote Monday, but may not have the same smooth ride in the House.

Two local legislators said they'd like to slow down, look more closely at the issue and consider taxing the games, as the industry itself has suggested. Others said they want to ban the computer games now, criticizing the games for targeting the poor.

The Senate bill approved Monday also faces the near-certain continuation of court challenges that have stymied past efforts to ban these and similar games.

"It's in the court system now," state Rep. Larry Womble, D-Forsyth, said yesterday. "So we should wait until the courts make a decision on it."

Sweepstakes supporters have said the state could bring in $500 million a year by taxing the industry. Already, at least 28 North Carolina cities want to tax the Internet cafes. Winston-Salem, for example, stands to bring in as much as $700,000 on existing machines in the coming year under a measure the council has approved.

The industry also points to the jobs sweepstakes "cafes" create, something Womble and state Rep. Earline Parmon, also a Forsyth County Democrat, mentioned yesterday. Parmon said jobs in such cafes pay an average of $10 an hour, well above minimum wage.

"We really need to look at the impact (of a ban)," she said.

Speaker of the House Joe Hackney has said he favors an outright ban, but it wasn't clear yesterday when or how the House will move forward on the Senate's proposal, which is contained in House Bill 80.

Several area Republicans said they had mixed feelings on an outright ban, but they leaned toward it anyway.

State Rep. Brian Holloway, R-Stokes, said he doesn't like the fact that the state runs a lottery, but won't let private businesses run their own games. Holloway also said that sheriffs in the two counties he represents -- Stokes and Rockingham -- feel the games are a problem, so he'll vote for the ban.

"If we're opposed to video poker, I think we need to be opposed to this as well because I think they're one and the same," Holloway said.

State Rep. Larry Brown, R-Forsyth, said he's likely to support the ban as well. He said legislators who want to "allow it and tax it to death" want to use the new money "for pork barrel projects more than anything."

"I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantage," Brown said. "And, if people disagree with me, I'd like to hear from them."

State Rep. Jerry Dockham, R-Davidson, said he hadn't made his mind up yet, and he plans to read the Senate's bill.

"There are several jobs depending on (sweepstakes) in North Carolina...." he said. "My first impression is, we have a lottery, how much more ... destructive can this be than that?"

State Rep. Bill McGee, R-Forsyth, said he's firmly against the machines. He said the state's revenue needs are less important than banning the games.

"We should tax the things that raise the revenue in a proper way," McGee said.

Brad Crone, a consultant for The Entertainment Group of N.C., which is basically a trade association for sweepstakes cafe owners and similar electronic games, said he expects an uphill fight against the ban. But he called for regulation, saying a ban would simply force the games underground.

"If you think that banning it's going to solve the problem, you're kidding yourself," Crone said.

ctfain@yahoo.com

Journal Graphic by Nicholas Weir - Click to enlarge