03/10/2011
North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue has announced that she is thinking about expanding legalized gambling in the state. The plan is apparently an effort to follow in the footsteps of other states, which made similar measures to increase their revenues, as well as balance their budget.
Perdue expressed hope that laws making video poker machines legal again in the state might help them overcome an expected $3 billion budget shortfall next year. The lottery commission has stated that video gambling operations could give the state annual revenues of up to $576 million.
In late 2010, Perdue said that her administration is currently studying whether they can implement such measure safely. “I don’t want to become the gambling state of America. I do not want to be Las Vegas. But I am concerned, and I continue to be concerned, that video poker — it’s just been hard to kill,” Perdue said.
For the last couple of years, the North Carolina General Assembly has passed a number of bills that are aimed at banning video poker games, including the “sweepstakes” machines. However, some of these bans have encountered tough legal challenges, and a year or more may pass before any final legal rulings are made.
Experts in the industry are one in the belief that having a state-run video gambling is still a long shot. Nevertheless, a study on its possibility is already being studied by the lottery commission of North Carolina.
