Still no ruling on video gaming in North Carolina

Hickory Daily Record
By: Sharon McBrayer Published: November 26, 2011

HICKORY --
Both sides in the Internet Sweepstakes debate are waiting on the North Carolina Court of Appeals to make a ruling on recent appeals.
Two cases currently are pending in the appeals court regarding enforcement of the law against video gambling, said Noelle Talley, public information officer for the North Carolina Department of Justice.
The state Court of Appeals recently heard arguments from the North Carolina Department of Justice and separately from Sandhill Amusements and Hest Technologies, two of the companies that provide Internet sweepstakes software and gaming.
Hest Technologies is appealing a ruling in Guilford County, while Sandhills Amusements is involved in a Wake County case.
The judge in the Guilford County case struck down part of the state’s law that banned the gaming in 2010, while the judge in the Wake County case upheld the law.
Around this time last year, Judge John Craig III of Guilford Superior Court in High Point ruled that the state has the right to limit games that mimic gambling. His order said a game that mimicked card games, bingo, craps, keno, lotto or a game that required a player’s skill was illegal. But he said a subpart of the state’s new law banning Internet sweepstakes gambling is unconstitutional and infringed on free speech.
Before the Guilford ruling, Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway dismissed a lawsuit filed by Sandhill Amusements that challenged the state’s law that went into effect in December last year. In his order, Ridgeway dissolved a preliminary injunction previously entered by the court on June 26, 2009 barring law enforcement from enforcing the previous state law on sweepstakes gaming. Cooper has argued that the two judge’s rulings contradict one another.
“So, basically we are waiting for the Court of Appeals to rule,” Talley said.
A three-judge panel will review written and oral arguments from both sides and then issue an opinion in the cases. Decisions from the Court of Appeals usually come months after the oral arguments, Talley said.
The legitimacy of Internet sweepstakes gambling has been a cat-and-mouse game between the state and its lawmakers and the gaming industry for years. Lawmakers pass a new bill that outlaws gambling and proponents of the gaming industry find a loophole in the law or sue to get the law overturned.
Proponents argue the state allows other forms of gambling — North Carolina Education Lottery and the Eastern Band of Cherokee casino — and it should allow Internet sweepstakes gaming so it can regulate the industry and receive tax revenue from it. They say the gaming is a form of entertainment for people.
Chase Brooks, president of the Internet Based Sweepstakes Organization of North Carolina, argued in an e-mail sent out last week by the organization that the state will now receive tax revenue from the Cherokee casino from its ‘live-dealer’ games such as poker, dice games and roulette.
Brooks says the Internet sweepstakes industry isn’t going away in the state. It will adapt and change as needed, he said.
“Our message is simple. We will find a way to survive. There is a valid market for this type of gaming and entertainment. We will adopt to the law and we will continue to operate,” said Brooks. “We think it is time for the leaders of the state to work with the video entertainment industry to find ways to regulate it and do like they are doing in Cherokee, tax it to generate new revenues with it.”
Opponents say the gaming preys on those who can least afford it by seducing players and taking their money.
For its part, Talley said the state Department of Justice is doing its job.
“Our job here is to defend the state law,” Talley said.

Sweepstakes parlor owners hope to benefit from Cherokee deal

RALEIGH, N.C. — As they battle to overturn a state ban on their video-style games, owners of Internet sweepstakes parlors are now eying a proposed casino deal between North Carolina and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Gov. Beverly Perdue and tribal leaders finalized an agreement Monday that would allow live card dealers at the Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Hotel in the mountains in exchange for North Carolina school districts getting a piece of profits from the new games.
"We would also like for the legislature to look at our industry as well," Brian Henry, treasurer of the Internet Based Sweepstakes Organization, said Tuesday. "We would just like a seat at the table with our legislature to have our industry regulated and have it taxed." Read More