Well, its over. The South Carolina General Assembly adjourned with no action taken on video poker. No ban, no taxes, no regulations. The following excerpt is from The State newpaper's article summarizing the session (http://www.thestate.com/front1.htm):
Video poker and car taxes. Beasley was less interested in talking about the twin failures of his efforts to eliminate car taxes and ban a video-poker industry he labeled a "cancer" at the beginning of the legislative session.
While the House passed the poker ban, the proposal was killed by a Senate filibuster, as skeptics predicted all along.
Proponents of a ban now await a ruling by the state Supreme Court on whether the $2.1 billion industry violates the state's constitutional prohibition on lotteries.
When that ruling is issued, it could prompt Beasley to call a special session to deal once more with the poker issue, said Sen. Wes Hayes, R-York, a leader of anti-poker forces.
"Some votes may hinge on that decision," Hayes said. "That may not be over."
Beasley is keeping his options open. "It's premature to make any final assessments as to what our line of action will be," he said. "Stay tuned. There will be more said about this issue."
Others say those hopes are feeble at best.
"The video-poker issue is dead," Land said.
It doesn't matter much what Beasley or the anti-industry forces say anymore. They aren't going to get an industry banning bill past the Senate. They couldn't even get a simple majority in the Senate. I think the most votes the anti-industry group got during the filibuster was 22 or 23 (out of 46 Senators - they needed 29). A special session would be nothing more than re-election campaign grandstanding by Beasley.
I see this as very good news. Although there is an argument to be made that additional taxes on VGMs would benefit the industry, I think, at least in the short-term, that not having to pay any additional taxes in to AB&G's benefit. Every penny they keep puts additional earnings in our pockets. Nice to have as the company continues its return to strong profitability.
TKA |
