Record #:

8042

Author(s):

Jeter, Frank

Abstract:

The General Assembly is debating the merits and demerits of a state lottery, with backers calling it a voluntary tax to fund state programs and detractors call it a sin because it is gambling. Despite “blue laws” that basically forced almost all the stores to be closed on Sundays, the state capital did have gambling in the 1930s and 1940s in the form of “one armed bandits” or slot machines. Some machines dispensed a mint so they couldn't be considered strictly gambling devices. Proprietors of establishments with machines always got their cut of the profits from them. By 1941, however, all slot machines in Raleigh had been removed from public places, because of opposition from churches. They were still used indoors by lodge members, fraternity groups, and even some veteran associations, who referred to using them as “gaming” rather than gambling.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 53 Issue 2, July 1985, p14, 31

Subject(s):

Lotteries; Gambling