Video Poker
The House is supposed to take up its version of the video poker ban today. Session was supposed to begin at 2 p.m., but as of 2:20 p.m. there's been no gavel. (And no, that's not unusual.)
Rep. Hugh Holliman, who represents Davidson County and is the Democratic whip, said many members will be just as happy to not be asked about video poker every other day.
"What's so problematic about video poker," Holliman said before session, "is we continue to have major incidents of people not going by the law."
Update: The bill passes long about 3 p.m. The vote was 114-1. That 1? Rep. John Blust, a Greensboro Republican. I have no idea if that was a mistake or no, he didn't say anything on the floor. I'll ask him after session.
Update2: Blust says his vote was no mistake. He wanted a bill that would have eliminated poker faster, so he voted against this one, which has a year-long phase out provision.
Update3: More odds and ends on video poker:
- Click here to see the video poker phase out passed by the House Wednesday. (It’s a PDF). Bill info file here, but it’s going to look like a bill on financial literacy. That’s because the House gutted a previously passed Senate bill and back-filled the video poker language.
- Click here for audio of the House’s video poker debate. It's almost a half-hour...not the most exciting stuff in the world, but if you're interested, there you go.
- House Speaker Jim Black, whose campaign got about $167,000 in industry contributions during the 2002 and 2004 election cycles, did not run the House session today. Instead, he turned things over to Deputy Speaker Richard Morgan and began the session sitting with us scrubby media types. He later moved to a seat at the back of the chamber.
- Black voted for the ban.
