Internet sweepstakes parlors in NC may have to shut their doors by December 1st.  By a gaping margin, the House approved H80, the Senate’s ban on the games tonight. All it needs is the Governor's signature, which she said last month she's likely to give.

Anyone listening to the long, heated House floor debate tonight would have expected a much closer vote.   There was weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth over the dangers of legislating morality (because they never do that), the jobs that would be lost, the relative dangers of video poker vs. lottery, the “rush” and “bullying” of the process, and the “heartburn” of having to make a difficult decision.

Some of the opposing arguments were outright eye-rollers.  Representative Marvin Lucas (D-Cumberland) said state investments in the stock market qualified as gambling, too:  “It’s a form of risk.”  Rep. Larry Bell (D-Sampson) suggested the demand for desktops for video parlors might be what’s keeping Dell’s doors open in the Triad.  Rep. Kelly Alexander (D-Meck), not a lawyer himself, assured his colleagues that the Attorney General’s staff had it all wrong: the bill would outlaw iPhones.  Rep. Larry Womble (D-Forsyth) thundered that the ban violated the American way. 

But there was some sincere soul-searching amid all the sturm und drang.  Rep. Becky Carney (D-Meck) was almost plaintive as she spoke against the ban.

"It’s gambling. Lottery is gambling. I voted for the lottery, and ladies and gentleman, this budget cycle, we are using gambling money to keep teachers in the classroom. So I’m hit with a moral dilemma as I’ve thought about this issue."

That's here:

Another common complaint from Democrats tonight was that the ban was “rammed down" the House’s throat, and lawmakers were “forced,” even “bullied,” to vote for it.  Fayetteville Dem Elmer Floyd was among them.

"I cannot, as a representative, to allow anyone to bully me into making a decision.  I came here, you know, because of my constituents elected me to come here. Not to be dictated by others about how I should vote and why I should vote. "

That’s here.

Almost all of the lawmakers who made that argument on the floor tonight were members of the Legislative Black Caucus.  The Caucus said last year it supported Rep Earl Jones (D-Guilford)’s proposal to legalize and tax the games instead of banning them.  Jones has been the chief critic of the ban this session, and the LBC made up 15 of the 27 votes against the ban tonight. Rep. Alma Adams (D-Guilford) was one of them.

"I just have a real problem with this so-called democratic process and basically muffling members from really talking about that and discussing that on this floor."

After the vote, Adams said the House should’ve had more say in the terms of the bill, especially the timeframe – she says sweepstakes café owners need more time to wrap up their business before closing their doors.  But she bristled when asked by reporters if the vote tally indicated this is a Black Caucus issue. 

"I hope that that’s not the issue…A lot of white folks spoke up. Let’s talk about that. I don’t think – this is not an African-American -- certainly not for me.  It‘s an issue of what we should do that’s ethically right.   And so - you don’t want to get in a position where you say I’m not gonna vote for this because they’re gonna count the African American folks.

"Everybody who spoke, spoke on what they’d heard from their district, whether they were African American or whether they were Caucasian. You need to write about the white folks too… I just happen to be African American, That doesn’t have anything [to do with it]." 

You can hear more here:

Adams has reason to be defensive.  She had to clean up the mess in 2007 when it emerged that some scholarships paid for by the LBC’s non-profit Foundation went to relatives of members of the Caucus.  Some of that money came from video poker interests.  

This year, the state LBC Foundation, which Adams now chairs, gave out $110K in scholarships to HBCUs.  One of its top three donors was the lobbying firm of McGuire Woods.  Among the many clients that McGuire Woods represents is the Entertainment Group of North Carolina, a video gambling interest.  McGuire Woods VP Gardner Payne has been the lead figure in the fight against the gambling ban.  Here’s the firm's own take on it from its website:

"Changing the image of video gaming

"The North Carolina Entertainment Group started the 2009 Legislative Session with a dream of re-legalizing video gaming in North Carolina. With the "Jim Black saga" fresh on the minds of legislators and the media, the prospects of a successful session seemed bleak.   Gardner Payne helped draft legislation to develop a revenue sharing program between the state and the video gaming industry and was able to help the NCEG find a House member to sponsor the legislation.  At the beginning of session there was no support for video gaming in the North Carolina General Assembly - in fact, the concept was met with ridicule.  However, with the appropriate messaging and education, by the end of the session MWC had helped secure the endorsement of HB 1537 by the Legislative Black Caucus, the North Carolina State Employees Association, the powerful House Rules Chair and a significant number of both Republican and Democratic House members, resulting in what at the beginning of the session would have been unthinkable:  a hearing in Judiciary II Committee.  …

McGuire Woods represents a lot of clients, and does a lot of business with a lot of legislators, and there’s no reason to believe that the gambling industry had anything to do with the donation, or that the donation swayed tonight’s vote.  But it might explain why Adams, who’s worked hard to clean up the Foundation’s image, might be a little touchy about the topic.

Heads-up

Tomorrow, the NC Senate takes on Citizens United with a gut-and-amend bill sprung from J1 just hours ago.  I’m too tired to take it apart tonight, but a cursory read-through makes me think we’ll be hearing plenty about it on the floor tomorrow.

Comments?  Drop me a line.