North Carolina video gaming advocacy groups are still vying for the opportunity to become a regulated and taxed industry in the state. Meanwhile, some in our local communities are apprehensive.

“We want to work with the Governor and the Legislature in providing state oversight, regulation and taxation of video gaming,” William Thevaos, president of the Entertainment Group of North Carolina said.

The Entertainment Group of NC stands behind the idea, and numbers, that regulating the industry could potentially bring in nearly $500 million each year and create nearly 6,000 new jobs.

“It’s rare to find an institution that wants to be taxed like we do,” Chase Brooks, Entertainment Group of North Carolina committee member and sweepstakes room owner said.

According to Brooks, if the industry was regulated, every week the state would be able to collect taxes from each of the individual businesses.

Additionally, gas stations, restaurants and any business that would allow for a video game on the property, the revenue drawn in from usage would allow for approximately one extra employee, Brooks said.

Across the board, the most obvious sign that video gaming is present are game rooms popping up in strip malls, on the sides of roads and pretty much anywhere else a machine can fit.

The City of Hamlet, for example, is working to have stricter ordinances on video gaming rooms within the city.

According to Marchell Adams-David, Hamlet city manager, the plans are still in the preliminary stages and will be discussed at future city council meetings.

“We wanted to be able to limit the number of establishments and where they could be located,” Adams-David said.

The establishments would not be allowed to be located next to schools or churches and according to Adams-David, the city doesn’t want to see every vacant building in the downtown area filled with sweepstakes rooms.

Yet, with the Entertainment group pushing for regulation, according to Brooks, with regulation comes stricter ordinances, which would make it even more difficult for would-be video gaming business owners to open up locations.

“Right now it’s every man for himself,” Brooks said. “Competition will weed itself out, which it already is.”

Currently, many of the owners of these businesses walk in a, “gray area,” Brooks said.

The gray area is essentially where several of these businesses function, amidst confusion and bad legislation.

With the implementation of regulation and with the help of the Department of Revenue, the gray area will disappear and regulation will work out those unsavory sorts of businesses, according to Brooks.

The City of Hamlet is proposing to impose stricter punishments for those businesses that do not follow guidelines set by the city, like the revocation of non-renewable business licenses and fines.

“We respect the fact they are legally recognized,” Adams-David said.

The city doesn’t want to ban the businesses, but just to keep them under control.

According to Brooks, North Carolina is a state with lottery and video gaming, “so they might as well face it.”

Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.