Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry, two former Charlotte Hornets players joined team president Fred Whitfield on Tuesday and went door to door in pressing lawmakers for an expansion of legal sports gambling in North Carolina, reports the WRAL.
Don Waddell, president and general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, who was also there to support the bill, said: "Gambling happens everywhere. Legalize it. Get rid of the next-door neighbor bookies and make it safer. I think it’s a win-win for everybody."
A series of reports commissioned by the North Carolina Education Lottery to examine the revenue impact of gambling in North Carolina found that legalizing gambling could produce millions of dollars for the state. In the United States, illegal gambling is a multibillion-dollar industry.
The president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council John Rustin said that kind of money would cause corruption of both North Carolina's government as well as values, adding that gambling leads to problems such as addiction, bankruptcy, domestic violence, and even suicide.
However, Waddell held that it was a great opportunity for the state to collect additional revenue. He said that the PNC Arena in Raleigh could become a hub for placing bets and watching games and that he would like gambling there to take place 365 days a year.
"The state is looking for revenue. Let’s face it, we all are", he said.
For the time being, sports gambling is only allowed at the Cherokee casinos in the western part of the state.