The North Carolina Sheriff's Association met at the state legislature yesterday to deliver a petition signed by all 100 county sheriffs in favor of a ban on video poker in the state.
Harnett County Sheriff Larry Knott said, "The Sheriff's Association has gone on record as just being in favor of eliminating it totally." State Sen. Charlie Albertson, who after recent redistricting will represent Dunn if successful in November's election, recently introduced a bill to outlaw video poker in North Carolina.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 45-5 last week and now goes before the House, though a vote is yet to be scheduled. "I can assure you, video poker is not a game. It's a tremendous burden on law enforcement," Sen. Albertson said earlier this month. "It's hurting our people."
The sheriffs have several issues with the current law, not least their contention that many machines can easily be adjusted to allow illegal cash payouts. Sheriff Knott also said owners of machines sometimes swap the registration numbers on the machines to further complicate tracking them.
He said although it causes a problem in Harnett County, which has almost 200 registered machines, other counties are suffering more, with some having as many as 1,200 video poker machines countywide to police. Sen. Albertson's bill would outlaw video poker completely.
Many businesses however are against the ban. Convenience stores and gas stations all over Harnett County have video poker machines. The Sadler Travel Plaza at exit 75 on I-95 has several(pictured top). General Manager Stephen Aycock said of the proposed ban, "I don't agree with it at all."
"They're going to go somewhere else and gamble," he said. Mr. Aycock speculated that video poker players at Sadler's were evenly split between travelers and local residents. "We have a lot of truck drivers that play when they lay over here," he said. "It's about half-and-half. We have some locals too." "It's no different from a church raffle," he said.
Mr. Aycock said video poker players haven't caused any trouble at Sadler's and the machines can be lucrative for the business. "It's like free money for us," he said, pointing out that Sadler's receives a commission from the owners of the machines, who are responsible for their upkeep and ensuring they meet legal requirements.
SOURCE:
The Daily Record
