NC lawmakers take final vote to legalize online sports gambling
House Bill 3 47 the corporal rate
representative Bill Hawkins and Clements House Bill 3 47 a
bill to be entitled sports wagering horse racing
Wagering
The General Assembly of North Carolina and the gentleman from
Lincoln Representative Sain is recognized for motion
Thank you Mr Speaker
I would like to move that
We concur with the changes that the Senate sent over
on House Bill 3 47 Sports Wagering
Yesterday we had a great vote
I do appreciate the body allowing me to get out
of here very quickly because I barely got on a
plane with three minutes to go to go to Washington
DC
Had the opportunity to present Senator Tom Tillerson award in
DC last night
So that was a lot of fun and they made
it back uh a little late
But today I hope we have the uh a very
similar vote
Really appreciate all the support uh all the debate that
has happened throughout this process not just in the house
side or the senate side but in committee as well
I just appreciate your support
Thank you
The gentleman has moved that the house to concur with
Senate Committee substitute House Bill 3 47 for what purpose
does the Lady from Guilford Representative Harrison rise to briefly
debate the bill
Um Thank you Mr Speaker
Um ladies and gentlemen in the house
I I don't want to repeat all the points that
I made in the previous debate when this bill was
on the house floor but I want to highlight a
couple of things
Um this predatory gambling bill is still predatory um and
is going to hurt North Carolina and it doesn't look
like we're going to achieve very much in exchange
But I but I want to thank represents San and
the others who worked on some of the improvements
I think that removing the deductions is is a big
improvement on the bill
The tax deductions and raising the income tax rate to
18 percent is also an improvement over the 14% that
it was once in this house
But I will add that I still um will uh
claim that this is an this is uh not constitutional
because we have income tax in our in our constitution
at 7%
So what I haven't been able to discern is what
happens if the 18% income tax is challenging
State court is is thrown out and then we don't
even have the revenue from uh the income tax to
fund the oversight
And um and and the additional revenue that this gambling
legalizing gambling is supposed to provide for our state So
that's a problem
Um uh a lot of us are particularly bothered by
the additional horse racing
It was deliberately taken out in the house and now
it's back in in the Senate
And I will just say to you all that Churchill
downs shut down because of 12 dust of the last
five weeks
Um Seven of which occurred in the week before the
Kentucky Derby
This is an inhumane terrible terrible industry and this is
um that's emblematic that uh there is a problem with
that industry
900,900 horses died in 2020 to 900 thoroughbreds who are
involved in racing died
And um there is uh that to me I don't
know why it was added
I I it would have been nice to have some
more thorough debate and and I don't know if the
lottery commission is actually gonna regulate horse racing and if
they're qualified to regulate horse racing I know it's complicated
and many states have their own set ups and they're
all different and I would just say that the effective
date
Um I ca I can't tell if that's an improvement
or not
January 8th 2024 is still too soon
That's a little bit more than six months away to
set up a gambling regulatory structure in our state
So I I still have problems
I appreciate the improvements that were made in the Senate
I know y'all worked on it very hard
Representatives saying but I encourage you to vote no on
this motion to concur
Thank you for
What purpose does the gentleman from wake represent Jones Rise
speak to the motion in the bill has four
Uh appreciate the chance to speak
Uh I didn't know if we're gonna get it yesterday
So I thank you for that
I will be quick
Uh I'm against this bill because gambling is a predatory
industry
I think nobody in here would doubt that
Ultimately the only person the only entity that really gains
won't be North Carolina won't be the guys that go
have fun in gambling
It'll be the gambling industry that ultimately is the only
entity that gains in the end
That's why they're doing such a good job getting it
to us because they will profit
We will not even with the increased tax revenue uh
gallons a vice
I put it right along with uh and it brings
other cousins with it
It brings in many instances where we know gamblin is
in Vegas and Jersey City uh loan sharking prostitution and
I put it right in there with cock fighting and
some of the other things that we know are unsavory
Uh lastly al I mean secondly I mean thirdly uh
we also um I think the gambling preys on the
weak
Uh many people are addicted to it and it breaks
up families
We used to have an insurance company around
I don't remember which one it was we used to
say we protect the family and in this body I
think we need to protect the family
This hurts families
It doesn't help families
I'm a family man leaving my family love my family
I'm sure all of you do
But there are people out there who are weak who
will go gamble and won't protect their family
We should protect those families for them
Another point I wanna make I saw in the paper
that um the first year we're gonna get $8.5 million
of tax revenue in the next year 36 million
But we we are flush right now in North Carolina
we had couple billion left over last year maybe three
probably gonna have that much left over this year
So we don't need this money to bring this industry
in
They need to stay out of here
They're gonna hurt people real people are going to be
hurt
And then the last thing I wanna say just uh
kind of a law school argument but it's true
It's just bad public policy and we about the business
of making good public policy
So I urge you to vote
No if you would just think about it in your
heart about what we're doing today
Thank you for letting me be heard
For
What purpose does the gentleman from Mecklenburg represent Walt Ross
to speak to the motion
Gentlemen has four
Uh Thank you Mr Speaker
Uh Ladies and gentlemen uh this is still a bad
bill and it's bad for North Carolina and it's bad
for the North Carolina citizens
But I'll just let me point out that one of
the things about the house version of the bill was
the ban on betting during college sports events or eight
hours prior to those events and on the property of
those events the Senate version removes that prohibition on sports
wagering at a sports facility during or eight hours prior
to a college game being played at the facility or
the adjacent to that facility
Just another bad bill that got a little bit worse
when it went to the Senate
I would encourage all the members to vote
No on this bill
Thank you
for what purpose LA from ribs and rice
Thank you Mr Speaker
And we do appreciate very much being able just to
briefly debate this bill again
I know we did it when it was first on
the floor and I would just add to what my
colleagues have said the integrity of sports
I think we are really harming the integrity of pure
sports by putting gambling in
People will be now more interested in the spread than
they will in the victory or the defeat
And I think it's a sad day for athletes and
a sad day for people that will become addicted and
we only put $2 million in for addiction treatment
We're going to need a lot more
A lot of families a lot of people will suffer
I wish we could have limited this
So it won't be in our on our mobile phones
on our billboards
Everywhere we look we are going to be inundated by
the advertising
This is going to result in
But thank you for the opportunity to speak
I appreciate it for the discussion for the debate
If not the question for the house is the adoption
of the motion concur with the Senate committee substitute to
House Bill 3 47
Those in favor will vote I those opposed to vote
No the court will open the vote
lock
The machine recorded the vote 68 having voted in the
affirmative 45 in the negative
The has the house has voted to concur with the
Senate committee substitute to House Bill 3 47
The bill is ordered enrolled and sent to the governor