Sheriff's Office: Remove gaming machines

Mar. 17—LUMBERTON — The Robeson County Sheriff's Office is telling operators of skilled gaming businesses to "immediately remove machines" after a ruling by the N.C. Supreme Court in February.

The case involving Gift Surplus LLC and Sandhill Amusements Inc. vs. the State in which the plaintiffs claimed their gaming machines were legal, the State ruled that "chance predominates over skill" making their machines illegal by state law.

The case also includes verbiage that challenges the legality of machines, leading some counties to call for their removal.

"The N.C. Supreme Court held that ANY video gaming machine is illegal under North Carolina law even if they require some 'skill or dexterity' input from the player,'" the Robeson County Sheriff's Office wrote in a statement released on Wednesday evening.

In February, the district attorney for Rutherford and McDowell counties gave gaming establishments a week to remove the machines, according to a report by ABC 13 News.

"Although the February 11th Order of the N.C. Supreme Court mainly addresses one specific type of gaming machine, 'Gift Surplus', the language used by the Court is broad enough to reasonably conclude that it will be applicable to all similar gaming machines," said Robeson County Attorney Rob Davis in a statement.

"The Court concluded that 'the results produced by plaintiff's (Gift Surplus) equipment.....varies with the vagaries of chance and not the extent of the player's skill and dexterity.' It could be reasonably expected that this would cover most, if not all, of the machines that are made available to the citizens of Robeson County," he wrote.

Sheriff's Office

The Robeson County Sheriff's Office issued a statement Thursday warning operators and players within gaming establishments in the county.

"There have been many businesses that are continuing to operate under the beliefs that these machines are legal. However, the ruling clearly states that ANY video gaming machine is illegal. Any business that is still operating the video gaming machines should immediately remove the machines from place of business," a statement from the Sheriff's Office reads.

According to NCGS 14-306.4, people can be charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor for the first offense, a Class H felony for the second and a Class G felony for additional offenses.

"Anyone who is found playing the video gaming machines can be charged with misdemeanor gambling," the Sheriff's Office's statement reads.

The lull in local law enforcement of the opinion comes as a result of other cases, the sheriff told The Robesonian.

"We have to prioritize our investigations and obviously more serious offenses such as Murder and Robbery take precedence," Sheriff Burnis Wilkins told The Robesonian in a statement.

Robeson County

The county and some of its departments are entering discussions of the order and its local impacts to the "county's interests," Davis said.

"The only relative decision we have made at this time is in relation to building permits issued, or to be issued, by our Department of Community Development (Planning and Zoning)," Attorney Davis said in a statement.

"Therefore, the County will not be issuing any building permits for any establishment that would possess these machines. Furthermore, state law allows the County to revoke a building permit that was issued pursuant to a fraudulent application. So if an applicant for a permit were to state on the application that the building was for a particular purpose, and we later discovered that the establishment possessed gaming machines, we would revoke that permit," Davis added.

Gaming

Multiple instances including raids have taken place in the county concerning gaming operations.

One person died in December 2021 after being shot during an attempted robbery at the Skilled Arcade #3, located at 402 N. Pine St. in Lumberton city limits, according to Lumberton police.

"Here in Lumberton, after discussing the matter with City Council, before this case had even been decided, we began doing more aggressive enforcement through our zoning laws, and we saw success from that," said Lumberton Attorney Holt Morre III.

"Since the case came out, the vast majority of the remaining electronic gaming facilities have closed voluntarily. We will continue our efforts as to those who are still operating through a combination of zoning and law enforcement," Moore said in a statement.

In August 2019, North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement agents and Robeson County sheriff's detectives, raided the Border Shell gas station at 14798 U.S. 301 South in Rowland, and Atkinson's Cigarette Land at 3005 W. Fifth St. in Lumberton. There were 16 machines taken during that raid.

In 2018, three casinos were raided, more than two dozen people were arrested and 15 charged. During the raid, guns, drugs and machines were located. Among people charged was Timothy Bryan Jacobs, of 10669 N.C. 711 in Pembroke, who was one of two men who forcefully entered The Robesonian office on Feb. 1, 1988, with shotguns and held up to 17 employees hostage for 10 hours. The casinos were located at 129 Nancy Lane in Pembroke, 1345 Modest Road in Maxton and 1521 Opal Road in Red Springs. The raid was a result of a yearlong operation involving various agencies from the local, state and federal levels.

The Robesonian reported that Ken Sealey, who was sheriff at the time, said that most of the people arrested were "armed and dangerous and had criminal records."

"Residents who lived near the properties expressed fear about the activities near the casinos," according to the report.

One county resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said he lives near an arcade establishment near Fairmont and he fears for his life.

"I'm more worried about a — a stray bullet than anything," he said.

He told The Robesonian he fears a shooting could occur in the event of a robbery or argument in the parking lot at the business.

He said he contacted law enforcement about the matter.

"If it's legal, there's nothing I can do about it," he said. "If it's illegal, it needs to be gone."

Reach Jessica Horne at 910-416-5165 or via email at jhorne@robesonian.com.