State Doesn't Need 'Sweepstakes Games'

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

You can dress video poker up like an “Internet sweepstakes game,” but it’s still video poker.

That’s what the N.C. General Assembly is in the process of deciding. And it’s the right decision to make, regardless of the selfish outcry being raised in Raleigh by those who stand to benefit greatly from the continued operation of these addictive online casinos, which serve no valid social purpose and bilk their players out of millions of dollars they can ill afford to lose.

Last week, the state Senate voted 47-1 for legislation to shut down these businesses, where people buy phone or Internet time allowing them to play games on computer screens to win cash and prizes. The bill is now before the House. The number of locations offering the machines has soared to more than 600 in recent months, according to Sen. Josh Stein, D-Wake, sponsor of the Senate bill..

“We need to make crystal clear once and for all that running an Internet sweepstakes casino violates North Carolina laws,” Stein said, noting that the games are “popping up in strip malls, targeting low-income communities across our state.”

In Moore County, one such parlor operates in the Olmsted Village shopping complex, within the municipal limits of Taylortown. Its owner asserts that the activity he offers is “really just a sweepstakes” whose outcomes are predetermined and which merely gives customers a way to while away the time. But we remain unconvinced. The machines still require constant stoking with new money while holding out unrealistic hopes of bestowing riches on lucky winners.

Parlor operators across the state argue that shuttering the parlors will cost operators big bucks, comparing them to the “North Carolina Education Lottery” (also a mistake). Some have pushed for legalizing the operations and then obtaining new revenue for the state by taxing them.

No. The state already has more than enough gambling money on its hands. Shut ’em down.

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Steve 2 years, 10 months ago

Then shut down the lottery!

SweepsCoach 2 years, 10 months ago

Well I suppose that's one point of view... but I'm with Steve (the last comment). What about the lottery? How is this different? Why not tax this and create an additional revenue source for the state? North Carolina is so upside down it could definitely use it.

And what about the estimated 10,000 jobs this industry creates in NC? What about those tax-paying citizens? In this economy it doesn't seem logical to send them to the unemployment office.

Val444 2 years, 10 months ago

I am a single mother who manages one of these locations. Its bc of this job that I do not need welfare in any form or fashion to assist my daughter and myself with our everyday living expenses. The media (and our government) is over-hyping the supposed “negative effects” of our business centers. As a manager and employee I have many many customers that come in our establishment to purchase Internet time and file their weekly unemployment claims. I have assisted many customers in preparing their resumes and applying for jobs using our prepaid Internet services. College students frequent our locations because we are open later than the library and they can access the Internet and utilize our docs and spreadsheets to assist with their homework and research. We also offer a safe environment where many retired people come and socialize with others in the community, people who used to stay shut indoors all the time with no where to go and no Internet access, now they get out, come play our free games, have coffee with friends, and learn a little more about the computer and Internet then they ever thought they would. Not only would you be shutting down an establishment that assists so many different types of people throughout the community and limiting their freedom of choice, but you would also be taking away hundreds of jobs causing the unemployment rate to skyrocket, the welfare rate to rise, and many many more people losing their homes, cars, and lives. Alot of the employees are college students, single mothers, fathers and husbands that have been laid off of other jobs and cant find employment elsewhere in this horrible economy! So when you take these things away from us what is your solution to replace the jobs that will be lost, how are you planning on being able to offer the assistance to those who need Internet access for college work, unemployment claims, job searches and the many other services and safe social environment that we provide? What are your plans to replace the needed services we offer to so many in our communities? You say you are doing this as a solution to a problem but I fail to see where you are offering a better alternative to so many that will be left without. This is not a solution only another attempt to strip those citizens that trust in you of their rights and so many more of their jobs and resources available to them at a cost they can afford.

difflook 2 years, 10 months ago

yea yall no it all, who wrote this editorial? Its not video poker! What about all the N.C. citizens who have engaged in a business that WAS/IS perfectly legal under North Carolina law? What about the funds they have borrowed to finance its operations? Yea shut em down, FIRE all those people, at least 4,000 i hear? Whats different on this than buying lottery tickets? Peoples own business to do as they please with the money they earn. No alcohol is allowed in the places, and is safe and supervised, yea shut em down, let those rolls of the unemployed rise. So just suppose that you enter a business that is totally legal, been judged LEGAL by a NC Judge and your go ahead and enter into it, and then for what reasons??? It suddenly is targeted to be shut down? Gov. Perdue who says that jobs are No. 1 should intervene and allow these jobs to be maintained here in N.C.