Slot Games Officially Fall Under North Carolina Poker Ban

North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue has signed a bill into law that incorporates computer sweepstakes games into the 2006 ban on video poker.

The ban will go into effect on December 1 eliminating thousands of jobs and closing an estimated  900 businesses that sell blocks of internet time to play computer games that simulate slots and payout prizes based on predetermined sweepstakes rules.

Two district Judges have recently ruled that the internet gaming café’s are not violating state laws, however the General Assembly voted to prohibit them during the past legislative session.

The Entertainment Group of North Carolina, an association of vendors of video gaming machines, plan to challenge the law and hopes that lawmakers will instead opt to tax and regulate the machines.

The Governor, herself has commented that gambling operations in the state should be regulated but backed the ban because the café’s have “morphed into something uncontrollable”.