Video poker wants to solve budget woes

I've known Jeanne Farmer-Butterfield a long time and always thought she was a smart woman and a skilled politician. But her latest decision on video poker makes me want to scream, "Are you out of your mind?"

The video poker industry, which we thought was dead and buried in this state, is attempting to revive itself as a solution to the state's budget problems. Legislators who didn't learn anything from the false promises of the state lottery must be loving this proposal. Video poker supporters, who are the people who own video poker machines and are making enough profit to pay lobbyists to push this deal through the General Assembly, say reviving video poker could bring $500 million a year to North Carolina. Their message: Video poker — it's good for the economy. Farmer-Butterfield should know better.

Any legislator tempted to believe the promises of the video poker industry need only ask their neighbors in South Carolina what a great asset video poker was to that state before a state Supreme Court ruling killed the nascent industry. In the couple of years that video poker was legal in South Carolina, video poker casinos popped up like fireworks stands in June or South of the Border billboards. Rural hamlets near the N.C. border became home to grandiose new video casinos that attracted gamblers from all over. Billions of dollars were pulled out of the productive economy. Cases of gambling addiction crippled families and whole towns. Since the courts closed the casinos, those pastel-colored buildings sit forlorn and weed-infested along rural roads just south of the North Carolina line.

Since getting kicked out of South Carolina, the video poker industry has set its sights on North Carolina. Opposition from county sheriffs, other law enforcement officials and private citizens finally persuaded North Carolina legislators a couple of years ago to get rid of the video machines that were causing such headaches for law enforcement and such temptations for strike-it-rich gamblers.

With the state facing a budget shortfall, the video gambling folks have changed tactics again: Video poker will solve the state budget crisis and boost the flagging economy. If you fall for that, high-stakes casinos, dog racing, cockfighting and legalized prostitution will be awaiting their turn to solve North Carolina's budget and economic worries.