Georgia's State

Senate unanimously passed a bill to ban video poker gaming machines Tuesday.

The ban won't

take affect until Jan. 1, 2002, said state Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, who represents

part of Fayette County.

the effective date of the law, that helps give a transition period for

those operating the machines, Seabaugh said. "Not everybody involved

in this are disreputable owners," he noted.

A move to pass

a similar ban failed in the regular legislative session this year. But

efforts picked up momentum after Gov. Roy Barnes and Lt. Gov Mark Taylor

resurrected the issue for the special sessions this month.

Although he

voted for the ban, Seabaugh claimed video poker was brought up to serve

as a distraction from the redistricting process.

"The governor

and lieutenant governor all of a sudden jumped onto this issue and they're

trying to divert attention from redistricting and the flag vote,"

Seabaugh claimed. "Video poker doesn't affect as many people as redistricting

does. ... I especially want the people in Fayette County to remember how

they [the Democrats] handled the redistricting process."

Sen. Greg Hecht,

a Democrat who represents north Fayette, said dealing with the video poker

issue had nothing to do with the redistricting work. "If we can't

deal with three or four bills over 15 days, and we deal with over a thousand

in a 40-day session, something is wrong with that math," said Hecht.

In siding with

the ban on the video poker machines, Seabaugh said he had little input

from constituents wanting to avoid the ban.

"I even

had about four people call me who play these machines and say [a ban]

is the right thing to do," Seabaugh said. "That tells you something."