Rockingham Mayor Gene McLaurin said he views video gaming businesses as an undesirable element and that all options are on the table to stop its spread.
State legislators thought the issue was resolved when they passed a ban on video poker machines in 2006, but an injunction has since been issued that prohibits law enforcement from treating certain computer terminals as illegal.
“These establishments are not good for our community,” McLaurin said. “It’s clear in our minds that these establishments are illegal, and we’re looking at what we can do to stop them from proliferating in our community.”
McLaurin said Rockingham is looking at what other cities in North Carolina have done since the injunction was issued.
A week after Rockingham Police Chief Robert Voorhees reported a rise in armed robberies that he blamed on video gambling, a pair of regional neighbors moved to get ride of or tax the machines.
On Tuesday Union County District Attorney John Snyder gave the owners of businesses with video gaming machines two weeks to remove the machines or face fines and the seizure of the equipment.
Snyder challenges the machines’ legality, saying injunctions against law enforcement should only apply in the counties where they were issued.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper’s office declined comment due to the pending litigation.
Spokeswoman Noelle Talley did, however, say North Carolina prosecutors have the right to enforce North Carolina Criminal Law under Chapter 14 of the state’s general statutes.
Operating video gaming machines is a misdemeanor in the state of North Carolina, unless the vendor is protected by court order.
In Laurinburg Tuesday, the city didn’t declare the machines illegal, but made them more expensive to operate.
The Laurinburg City Council voted 4-1 to place a $2,000 annual fee on the businesses that operate the machines plus an additional $2,500 fee per machine. Anyone who doesn’t pay will have their business closed down by city police, according to Laurinburg officials.
Other measures have been taken in Hamlet, Wendell, Kinston and Rocky Mount.
“We’ll certainly be researching what Hamlet and Laurinburg and others have done,” McLaurin said. “We want to take the best steps possible and bring resolution to this issue.”
While fees may be a deterrent, Rockingham may go a step further.
“We’re already having discussions with our District Attorney Michael Parker about what can be done legally, and we’re also still looking in-house at what we can do as far as adding fees,” said Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump. “At the same time, we believe it was the intention of the North Carolina General Assembly that these machines be outlawed, and we’d rather see them removed than regulated.”
Parker said he is formulating enforcement strategies and would like to find a legal solution to the question.
He said he’s attended hearings in other parts of the state dealing with the gambling issue.
“That’s how important this issue is to me,” Parker said.
Rockingham Police Chief Robert Voorhees confirmed he’s been in discussions with Parker and opposes the spread of the video gaming industry.
In addition to crime, some opponents of video gaming say it takes money away from the North Carolina Education Lottery.
One of the legal questions in this case has been whether it is constitutional to allow the devices on tribal land but not in the rest of the state.
Proponents of video gaming see it as a potential financial boon for a state struggling with reduced tax revenues and budget woes.
For Crump, government profiting from these machines “is kind of like legitimizing them.”
“We know that since these businesses have popped up in Rockingham we’ve seen a spike in armed robberies, that they’re targeted because they have a high amount of cash and that it effects the safety of the people in and around these businesses,” Crump said. “We’re more concerned about that than we are making money off of it.”
“We don’t want to appear to be profiting from these businesses,” McLaurin said. “We don’t want these establishments in our community preying on the people who can least afford to waste their money on get-rich quick schemes. That’s what these things are - they’re scams and schemes. We want to take the appropriate steps to ensure that we bring resolution to this issue.”
Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.
lets all open a church in richmond county (youll pay no taxes and people here will love you no matter what you preach(or will they might depend on what they preach at county meetings??)
vote them out soon and im willing to bet that no matter what the future will be brighter with them not in office!!
So their idiotic message to the poor people is don't do the online gambling, do the lottery, that way we as good Democrats can take your money that way. Of course, the state taking 40% of all revenue isn't "profiting" or a "scam".
Liberals like McLaurin and company are such a bunch of hyporcrits. They endorse public sanctioned gambling, but don't want the private sector to ever make a dollar the same way government does.
Did anyone ever ask how many of McLaurins convenience stores have these machines? What a hypocrite, and calls himself a christian.