Friday, March 11, 2005 | 9:57 a.m.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The fight over a North Carolina lottery ramped up Thursday when the House speaker said he wanted a vote on a state gambling bill by late next month, and that no statewide referendum would be involved.
"It is going to be a straight up-or-down vote," Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, told reporters.
North Carolina is the only state on the East Coast without a state-run lottery.
Gov. Mike Easley won another term with a repeated platform of seeking a state-run numbers game for public school class-size reduction, the More at Four preschool initiative and school construction.
Since he first took office in 2001, the state became surrounded by lotteries, most recently with South Carolina and Tennessee starting games.
The Easley administration estimates a game could generate between $450 million and $500 million for state coffers, although opponents contend the amount would be much less.
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