Mark Creech with the Christian Action League of North Carolina. House Bill 954 passed the House Commerce committee on August 31. State legislators are now considering a bill that would make video lottery games legal and use some of the gamblers’ money for community college student loans. And the state should have no business offering “false hope” with gambling that targets the poor, said the Rev. Video gambling is a long-time target of laws and law enforcement in North Carolina. Both University of North Carolina system campuses historically known to educate minority students and private historically Black colleges in the state also would receive funds in this year’s bill.Īs in the past, religious conservatives spoke against the measure, saying that state regulation won’t do away with illegal activity. Most of those state’s share of revenue would go to a new forgivable loan program for community college students. Gambling machine operators would receive 35% of those net terminal revenue while 25% would be allocated to retailers, which could have up to 10 machines operating. The analysis envisioned 20,000 lawful machines in place at that time generating $1.1 billion in revenues in a year.
State Alcohol Law Enforcement agents would also help carry out the law.Īccording to an evaluation of an earlier version of this year’s bill by General Assembly fiscal analysts, the state could take in $350 million annually by mid-2028 for education and law enforcement grants. The commission would contract for a central monitoring system to link permitted terminals, develop rules and conduct criminal checks of license applicants.
