Raleigh: Fueled by heavy and wide spread rumors that the office of Governor Bev Perdue will soon regulate the video poker and sweepstakes industry. A major sweepstakes gaming company has announced that they have been in communication with the states head office and are a front runner in providing games and auditing software to regulate the controversial industry just 2 months after the a bill (HB-80) had been signed by the same office to ban a majority of the sweepstakes industry.
On Friday February 4, the Internet Sweepstakes Network (ISN, Inc) declared their representatives have been discussing ways to regulate the video poker and sweepstakes industry so that a portion of the proceeds can go toward the states enormous budget shortfall. Casey Rooks, Spokesperson of the Internet Sweepstakes Network (ISN, Inc) claims “I believe that the overall consensus of the current house and senate members is that the budget shortfall has to be dealt with accordingly or, as research has shown, the state can expect the unemployment rate to increase again. This will likely result in more cutbacks, more job loss and an extension of the recession, contrary to their actions, lawmakers understand the importance of a strong economy and we feel that we have offered them a clear solution.” Rooks goes on to say “If the state regulates this industry they take care of two hot topic issues, One, they benefit from increase tax revenues that can be applied against their debt and two, they increase the number of jobs available, House Bill 80 opened the doorway for the state to oversee the auditing and regulation of the industry and benefit from the proceeds of the very popular sweepstakes games.”
The discussions reveals that increasing number of North Carolina newspapers has reported that the governor, Bev Perdue, is contemplating the legalization of these sweepstakes videogames to get a handle on the budget shortfall (approximately $3.7 billion). House bill 80 was viewed as a very unpopular new law because of the amount of job loss it created when a majority of the sweepstakes cafes that were affected had to close due to compliance.
A spokesman for Perdue said the governor will consider both sides but has yet to make her decision. A partial enforcement of the state’s ban on sweepstakes games started on Jan. 1. In the beginning, the law was designed to prohibit any videogame terminal running sweepstakes games. However, in November, the superior court ruled that the First Amendment protected games that are for amusement-style game play in lieu of casino-based game play. Detailed form of the discussion can be found at the internet sweepstakes network website http://www.InternetSweepstakesForum.com
