\nRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) \u2013 A North Carolina appeals court on Tuesday upheld the convictions of two people for violating a state ban on video sweepstakes games in what state Attorney General Roy Cooper\u2019s office said was the first such ruling in a criminal case.<\/p>\n
\tThe unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals means the Edgecombe County case can\u2019t be automatically appealed to the state Supreme Court, though the higher state court could decide it wants to weigh in.<\/p>\n
\tThe decision comes after years of back-and-forth between lawmakers, the video sweepstakes industry and the courts.<\/p>\n
\tState lawmakers first passed a ban on video poker and all other electronic gambling in 2006. The industry quickly adapted, introducing new sweepstakes games operators said complied with the law. State lawmakers banned Internet-based sweepstakes games with entertaining displays in 2010. The state Supreme Court upheld the law in 2012.<\/p>\n
\tWith most sweepstakes operations, patrons buy prepaid cards giving them Internet time and the opportunity to uncover potential cash and prizes with mouse clicks on a computer screen. Winners take their cards to a cashier and cash out.<\/p>\n
\tIn the past two years, police in many municipalities have shut down sweepstakes cafes and arrested owners and employees. Some of those arrested have been acquitted of criminal charges.<\/p>\n
\tOther communities are allowing sweepstakes parlors to continue operating. A few operators have asked courts to block law officers from closing their stores. Sweepstakes operators say they\u2019ve changed computer software to comply with the law.<\/p>\n
\tDifferent lower court judges have disagreed about the law and its application, leading to uneven law enforcement and the likelihood that appeals courts will again have to weigh in.<\/p>\n
\tBut the Court of Appeals ruled that the convictions of sweepstakes cafe owner Richard Conoley and store manager Chapman Kawana Spruill should stick. Both were sentenced to 45-day jail terms, with Chapman\u2019s sentence changed to three years of probation and Spruill given a year of probation.<\/p>\n
\tThe video games offered at their location revealed a prize that didn\u2019t depend on any skill or dexterity, Judge Wanda Bryant wrote for the court.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt is a game of chance. And, in conjunction, the electronic video game is a display which entices the patron to play,\u201d Bryant wrote.<\/p>\n
\tThe State Bureau of Investigation last year began looking into campaign donations from the video sweepstakes industry to North Carolina politicians, a step that Cooper\u2019s spokeswoman said in June was requested by federal and state prosecutors in Raleigh.<\/p>\n
\tPolitical donations from Oklahoma gaming software magnate Chase E. Burns have flowed to some top North Carolina politicians, including Gov. Pat McCrory, House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger. Their campaigns gave thousands of dollars in donations linked to Burns to charity after he was charged with running an illegal gambling enterprise in Florida.<\/p>\n
\tThe three Republicans have denied any wrongdoing in taking the donations from the software provider. Tillis was elected to the U.S. Senate earlier this month.<\/p>\n
\tThe SBI this summer was removed from the supervision of Cooper, a Democrat considering a challenge to McCrory in 2016. The law enforcement unit is now described as an independent agency within the Department of Public Safety, which answers to McCrory.<\/p>\n
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