The N.C. House voted Wednesday to support a Senate ban on Internet sweepstakes machines. A bill now goes to Gov. Bev Perdue, who is expected to sign it into law.
The owner of three local sweepstakes businesses said by the time the ban goes into effect Dec. 1, the gaming companies will likely have a different way to keep the businesses operating.
"I don't know that anybody's in a big panic over it, at least I'm not," said Tony Whisnant, who owns Internet World Business Center on Startown Road and two Porky's Internet Sweepstakes, one on N.C. 127 South and one in Lenoir.
Still, sweepstakes business owners and employees lobbied the Legislative Building Wednesday, asking lawmakers to study the issue further and seeking support for a measure that would bring the state more money in the form of licensing fees and taxes from the sweepstakes.
Whisnant said he has roughly 20 employees now and had another sweepstakes parlor set to open. He points to the money he pays in taxes, the rent he pays to a landlord, the fee he pays to have his grass mowed as proof he's helping the local economy.
He doesn't think criticisms of his industry are completely fair. Sweepstakes parlors often operate in lower-income areas not because of clientele, but because owners of higher profile buildings don't want to lease to the businesses, he said.
The Senate agreed 47 to 1 last month to do away with the games, which have been sprouting up at hundreds of new Internet cafes and business centers. Senators called them a way for operators to bypass the video poker ban and prey upon low-income residents.
Internet or electronic sweepstakes are games, usually on computer terminals, which people can play after buying phone or Internet time. They often include matching or "reel" games, as well as others that let players click on the screen. The terminals on which people play are simply entertaining ways to tell players whether they win, according to the industry. Signs posted at many of the gaming parlors say prizes are predetermined at the time of purchase.
Business owners have argued theirs are contests similar to sweepstakes offered by fast food restaurants.
The state's gambling laws will now specifically forbid electronic machines and other devices used for sweepstakes purposes, which existed because of a legal loophole.
Judges had recently agreed with the gaming industry that the sweepstakes games are not covered by the state's 2006 video gambling prohibition or a 2008 amendment.
"This is like playing Whack-a-Mole with these companies," said Rep. Ray Rapp, a Democrat representing Haywood, Madison and Yancey counties. "We pass a ban. They find a technicality to get around it."
Rep. Ray Warren, a Democrat who represents Alexander and Catawba counties, also spoke up about the state's gambling history during the House debate.
The former Alexander County sheriff said he dealt for years with pinball machines, poker machines and the slot machines sometimes called one-armed bandits.
"I had people come into my office and ask me to do something," he said. "… Their husbands were spending the grocery money."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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