In a 2-1 vote, the commission approved a measure setting the licensing fee for sweepstakes operators at $1,500, with an additional $1,000 fee per machine beginning July 1. The ordinance also limits the number of machines to four per establishment.
Commissioner Marshall Stevens was the lone dissenter, telling the board the fee was too high. He recommended a $1,000 licensing fee and an addition $250 fee per machine. The suggestion came from a conversation Stevens had with the owner of a sweepstakes business looking to move to East Laurinburg to avoid the stiffer fees of Laurinburg.
Mayor Harry Pittman told Stevens that the town residents oppose them and would rather set the fee higher, or the ban the establishments outright.
"A lot of people don't want them in here, period," Pitman said. "They'd just as soon they not be here."
He took issue with Stevens accepting a sweepstakes operator's attempts to negotiate down the price as the regulation is for the town and its residents, not the owners of the two gaming businesses inside the East Laurinburg city limits.
Pittman said there was a need for the town to set regulations for the businesses.
"We have machines down here," Pittman said. "We decided to make an ordinance requiring them to abide by certain rules and establish a fee for them to operate in the town of East Laurinburg."
The ordinance set a four machine limit because that is a restriction in the initial court injunction, Pittman said.
"There down here and they aren't regulated," he said. "There are a lot of people in the town of East Laurinburg that don''t want them down here.
Sweepstakes opponents pressured the town into acting, the mayor said.
"We had to come up with a compromise between the commissioners and the town people with coming up with a dollar amount because if it was left up to some of the people in the town of East Laurinburg, they would be out of here. "
Since the court injunction prevents barring machines outright, Pittman said, the town decided instead to use it as a source of revenue.
East Laurinburg is the second Scotland County municipality to regulate sweepstakes gaming. Laurinburg passed stiffer fees, charging $2,000 per business license and an additional $2,500 per machine.
The town of Maxton will look at setting zoning restrictions and fees on the sites at its next meeting.
In other business:
• Scotland County Emergency Services Director Roylin Hammond made a presentation to the town on issuing a
• Stevens suggested the town raise the rental rate for the community center from $75 to $100 after damages to the carpet. He was uncertain if those damages were caused by the last renter or from the traffic with the election on Tuesday.
• Resident Barbara Rhye asked the town to create an ordinance regulating yard maintenance, citing a neighbor with three foot high grass and trash strewn in their yard.
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