So, video poker

is now illegal in Georgia. In fact, under the current laws, it is a felony

to even possess a video poker machine. Bad news for an industry that purports

to have raked in a billion dollars a year in the Peach State.

On May 29,

video poker was dealt a losing hand by the Georgia Supreme Court. The

justices unanimously upheld Georgia's ban on casino-type video poker,

keno and match up games, overturning a lower court ruling that kept the

games going after the law was set to take effect in January.

Authorities

have begun enforcing the ban. The machines themselves estimated at 15,000

to 20,000 statewide must have been removed the state by midnight June

30 or risk being seized. Owners will not be compensated for the machines,

which average $3,000. In one locality, 4,000 machines were reported to

have been seized over the July 4th weekend. While, in another county,

60-70 machines were seized.

Gov. Roy Barnes,

who labeled the games a gambling "cancer" and pushed the Legislature

to ban them last year, applauded the ruling of the court. "This decision

will allow us to put an end to video poker before it brings any more harm

to our citizens," Barnes said.

Attorney Mark

Spix, who represents video poker machine operators, said the industry

is considering asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case or filing

a lawsuit seeking to overturn the ban in federal court. "It's a dangerous

law and a dangerous precedent," Spix said. "Anytime the state

can render something that was legal yesterday to be illegal today, the

state can take anything it wants."

Alan Begner,

another attorney for the industry, said he would file a complaint in Fulton

County Superior Court for people whose right to privacy was violated when

the Legislature included a prohibition against having the games in homes

for entertainment. Many owners and operators of the games said the law

would cripple them financially. Dan Hankinson Jr. said his family's business

in Riverdale would survive because it offers more than video gambling

but would suffer an immediate 20 percent drop in revenue. "There's

nowhere to sell this stuff," said Hankinson, past president of the

Georgia Amusement & Music Operators Association. "I can sell

certain parts, but the rest is just trash."

While opinions

are divided about video poker in Georgia, no one seems to be against gambling

itselfcertainly not the governor nor most members of the Legislature.

While owners of video poker machines are being arrested and their machines

are being seized, commercials for the Georgia Lottery continue to air

every few moments on most television stations. As long as the state is

controlling the games and as long as the hefty profits are coming into

the state coffers, politicians are just fine with promoting, endorsing,

and encouraging gambling. It's when others are making the bucks that their

collective morality is outraged.

Is gambling,

wherever it may be found, a "cancer" as Governor Barnes declares?

Or is it that state-sponsoring gambling, i.e., the lottery, is exempt

from this diagnosis? Or is it that only gambling that doesn't funnel mega-bucks

into the state coffers is a "cancer?" Does being state-sponsored

make the "cancer" healthy? Is non state-sponsored gambling "evil"

and state-sponsored gambling "good?" If this is the case, then

a whole host of social ills and "cancers" can be cleaned up

and made a good thing.

Perhaps there

should be state-sponsored crack houses with the money going to drug rehab

centers. Or, perhaps state sponsored prostitution with the millions of

dollars generated being put toward women's health issues. If being state

sponsored makes a practice right and good then why not?

"[Video

poker] was siphoning over a billion dollars this year alone from those

who were least able to defend themselves from the gambling addiction,"

said Danny Craig, district attorney in Augusta and an outspoken opponent

of the industry. But Mr. Craig is silent on the effect that the legal

lottery may have on thousands of Georgia citizens. Does the legalization

of a certain form of gambling mean that these same people will no longer

be addicted to gambling? Or will they just spend their money on the lottery?

"The state

of Georgia should never have gotten into the business of sponsoring legalized

gambling through a state lottery," said columnist Cynthia Tucker

in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "It suckers the poor and the

gullible into throwing away their precious resources in a rigged game.

Though parents of college-age students are delighted by lottery-funded

scholarships, the Georgia Lottery was never a good idea." But it

is legal and, according to the boys under the Gold Dome, that must make

it right.

[The Reverend

Canon David Epps is rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church

in the Coweta/Fayette County area of south metro Atlanta. He may be contacted

at [email protected] or at www.ctkcec.org. Several sources were

consulted in the composition of this article including the Atlanta Business

Chronicle, The Citizen news, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.]