North Carolina Skill Games Illegal, State Appellate Court Rules

The North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled against controversial skill games, slot-like gaming machines that combine elements of skill with chance.

A skill games business in North Carolina is facing pressure to turn off its gaming machines after a state court deemed the terminals as illegal gambling apparatuses. Commonly called sweepstakes or fish games, their supporters claim the elements of skill supersede chance and therefore do not constitute gambling. (Image: Axios)

Like several other states in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, skill games have become a contentious legal matter in North Carolina. A company called No Limit Games, LLC, has struck partnerships with many small businesses in Robeson County and elsewhere in the Tar Heel State to place its skill games commonly marketed as sweepstakes kiosks inside their physical retail establishments. The function similarly to a Las Vegas slot machine but combine elements of skill that allow players to theoretically improve their odds.

If a spin loses, the No Limit Games products allow the player to play a memory game that can keep their wager alive. However, in a 2-1 decision, the appellate court judges sided with Robeson County law enforcement in deeming the games illegal under state law.

Plaintiff has not provided evidence that skill or dexterity … predominates over chance in determining the results of the game, Judge Toby Hampton wrote for the majority along with Judge April Wood. No amount of skill will make a difference in the outcome of the game.

Hampton and Wood concluded that, though the games do allow a gambler to extend their bet via skill tests, the end result is based on chance.

North Carolina Gaming Ban 

North Carolina is among the most restrictive states when it comes to . The exceptions are that the state allows charitable gaming, operates a lottery, and has tribal casinos in Harrah s Cherokee, Harrah s Cherokee Valley River in Murphy, and in Kings Mountain.

North Carolina has no legal commercial , sports betting, online gaming, or even parimutuel wagering. Hampton and Wood ruled that, regardless of whether a machine is billed as an entertainment amusement, if it awards cash or prizes based on chance, the product remains illegal and prohibited by statute.

Judge Jefferson Griffin dissented from the three-judge appellate panel. Griffin concluded that skill games comply with the law.

I would hold Plaintiff s entire system elevates skill over chance by utilizing a finite prize pool from which losing entries are exhausted and potentially returned to a participant through the adequate exercise of skill, Griffin wrote. Thus, Plaintiff s sweepstakes provides the participant with the ability to win every time and therefore does not offend section 14-306.4.

North Carolina s General Statute Section 14-306.4 prohibits electronic machines and devices for sweepstakes. The code bans all devices that provide cash and/or prizes based upon chance.

Casino, Sports Betting Push

Efforts to bring commercial casinos to North Carolina are expected to resume when the General Assembly convenes for its 2025 session on Jan. 8.

Last year, state Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) championed a push to in rural counties. But the backroom dealings, which included providing Baltimore-based Cordish Companies with the exclusive privileges to build casino resorts in Rockingham, Anson, and Nash counties, caused significant backlash from local leaders, the public, and many state lawmakers in Raleigh.