Speaking with reporters, Moore said he and Berger should have taken a more traditional approach to legalizing something as significant as gambling. The top Republican in the House said the process was likely “doomed” from the beginning.<\/p>\n
Local officials and residents in the targeted counties were largely kept out of the backroom legislative discussions about including casinos in the budget. Many elected officials in the three counties — Rockingham, Anson, and Nash — scolded Berger and Moore for trying to bring slot machines, table games, and sports betting to their backyards without giving them a voice in the matter.<\/p>\n
Though 2023 won’t be the year North Carolina legalizes commercial casinos, Moore is optimistic that such a bet might prevail in 2024.<\/p>\n
\nThere were people [lawmakers] who probably would have supported it as a standalone bill who just felt like the way it was being done and not having any input in it didn’t work,” Moore said. “To me, it makes sense to do it [legalize casinos].”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Moore added that while he would back a commercial gaming measure, he won’t be the one rallying up support in the counties where Berger proposed allowing casinos.<\/p>\n
“It’s not something I’m going to be carrying the water on. They need to go out and work with their colleagues and try to get those votes,” Moore said.<\/p>\n
Cordish Partner<\/b><\/h2>\n Adding to Berger and Moore’s controversial efforts to legalize commercial casinos is an apparent backroom deal the Senate leader struck with The Cordish Companies that would have afforded each casino development opportunity to the Baltimore-based firm. Cordish operates Live!-branded casinos in Maryland and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
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Berger said recently that county commissioners in the targeted counties were privy to the state’s casino talks, but those local officials were legally bound to “keep private” those details.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Cordish executives have made several campaign contributions<\/a> to state Republicans, including Berger, in recent campaign cycles. Moore saying “they” will need to go out and rally support for casinos presumably means Cordish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Carolina’s top Republicans are expected to reinitiate talks to legalize commercial casinos next year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":293316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13],"tags":[13598,87127,83460,84122,82114,87126,87125,87862],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
North Carolina House Speaker Says Casino Push 'Makes Sense'<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n