news-record.com

A bill sponsored by Rep. Earl Jones that would legalize video poker is due to be heard in a House Judiciary Committee today.

“It’s for discussion purposes only,” said Jennifer Weiss, a Cary Democrat and vice chairman of the House Judiciary II Committee. She stressed that no vote was expected.

“Rep. Jones really wanted to have the bill heard so he could make his case,” Weiss said.

Jones, a Greensboro Democrat, is the lone sponsor of the bill. He and other supporters of bringing video poker back to the state say that it could raise as much as $480 million for North Carolina’s cash-strapped budget.

But opponents point out that the General Assembly has only recently banned the machines and is still trying to stomp out video poker parlors operating under gray areas of the law.

They also say that when the games were legal in the state, video poker operators often skirted laws that regulated the number of machines one could have or the prizes that could be paid.

Update: The House Judiciary II Committee ran out of time before hearing the video poker bill.

Weiss told Jones that the measure would come back up at a subsequent meeting.

"I can't promise next week, but we'll try to work you in soon," Weiss said.