Cleaning up video gambling? If only.

There's a letter to the editor in the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record this morning from one Ryan Kimrey of Charlotte who says he works in the "video gaming business." His letter defends his campaign contribution to gambling-friendly state legislator Earl Jones. Kimrey says the games offered in North Carolina are "just as legal as McDonald’s sweepstakes and Publishers Clearinghouse" and that he and Earl Jone favor legislation that would enforce "protection for consumers."

If only.

Despite having written to Representative Earl Jones imploring him to include disclosure of the odds of winning on video gambling, as other legal sweepstakes must, and requiring that video games representing real-world games, such as cards and dice, be programmed to have odds identical to their real-world equivalent, none of those obvious consumer protections ever made their way into the pro-gaming bill Jones submitted to the legislature -- and Jones never responded to my correspondence about them.

I am quite certain the video gambling industry would like to come out from the shadows and operate with full legal recognition. I am also quite certain that their claim to desire consumer protection is, to date, a load of bull.

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Email sent to State Representative Earl Jones on April 30, 2009 -- Never answered
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Hello Representative Jones,

I read your bill to legalize video poker machines. I have a few questions about it. If you can spare five minutes, can you give me a call at your convenience.

If you prefer, you can reply by email:

1. The bill allocates a total of 100% of the gross revenue to machine owners, licensees and the state. Doesn't this assume 0% paid out as winnings?

2. The bill contains no consumer protections. What are your thoughts about adding the following to the bill?

a. Requirements that machines display the odds of winning; that if the odds change as the machine is played, the odds be updated and displayed in real time.
b. Requiring games that use representations of real-world gaming implements, such as cards or dice, give players the same odds as one would have playing with a physical deck of cards or dice.

3.. Why was the Department of Revenue chosen to enforce the licensing provisions of this bill instead of ALE?