Zoning fight, criminal indictments loom for Nudge City

Local business owner Tami Nicholson was indicted Jan. 8 for illegally operating video gaming machines after police raided her Waynesville Plaza business last April, but it hasn’t stopped her from continuing a similar operation in a different location.

New home for Nudge City?

The Town of Waynesville solved one problem Nov. 28 by deciding where, exactly, video gaming parlors may in the future be located, but by denying local gambling establishment Nudge City the opportunity to remain in its current location on Dellwood City Road, the town has “created a solution looking for a problem,” according to the business’s attorney, Mark Melrose.

Waynesville ‘nudged’ toward gambling zoning

When the Nudge City video gaming parlor popped up in an old auto dealer’s lot on Dellwood City Road earlier this year, it quickly caught Elizabeth Teague’s eye.

Gaming machines seized from local businesses

fr gamingraidAn undercover investigation into illegal gambling resulted in the seizure of more than 300 gaming machines from convenience stores across the state last week.

Bust takes down gambling houses in east Haywood

A months-long undercover investigation led to a raid of three underground gambling parlors in Haywood County last week.

The private gambling houses were outfitted with video poker and keno machines. Officers seized 35 illegal gambling machines and $8,000 in cash during the raids, carried out simultaneously last Thursday.

Hicks testifies before U.S. Senate committee on positive impact of tribal gaming

Michell Hicks, Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, told a U.S. Senate committee in testimony on July 23 that gaming on the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina has had a “dramatic impact” on the lives of Cherokee families and especially children in ways “we never dreamed possible.”

Gambling halls raided

fr sweepstakesTwo video gambling halls were raided in Haywood County last week following an undercover investigation by law enforcement agencies.

Canton goes for the gold by reinstating sweepstakes fees

fr sweepstakesDespite sweepstakes-style video gambling being outlawed in the state, they have slowly crept back in to the corners of gas stations across Western North Carolina in recent months. 

Razing the sweepstakes: Police handcuffed in latest standoff with successor of video gambling

coverSweepstakes-style video gambling is making bold forays into the rural communities of Western North Carolina, back for yet another skirmish in the decade-long war against the betting devices. 

State lawmakers have tried to ban them. Police have tried to bust them. Judges have tried to reprimand them. 

Sweepstakes: never say die

fr sweepstakesDespite a statewide ban on video sweepstakes machines, the video gambling industry is taking advantage of yet another apparent loophole to introduce the machines back into Western North Carolina, apparently emboldened after local district court judges have dismissed a series of criminal charges against defiant sweepstakes operators.

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