In retrospect, it was a sure bet: as lucrative as they are to their owners, video poker machines, in one form or another, would reappear in North Carolina even after the legislature banned them. Now the General Assembly is again trying to drive a stake through the devices that won't die. This time the variant is an online sweepstakes in which participants play games resembling slot machines.

"Online" -- sounds like something you might access at home. In fact, according to The Associated Press, law officers say the new types of games "have shown up on computer terminals in locations where poker machines once sat." Players buy in using phone cards purchased on the spot, for a chance to win money prizes. Some of the machines, according to another report, are retooled video poker devices.

North Carolina had a sad, 14-year experience with poker machines that infested convenience stores before the devices were banned last year. They fostered gambling and led to the conviction of payoff-taking lawmen.

The last thing we need now is a replay in a new guise. The General Assembly, which is moving along a bill that would extend the video poker ban to these online slots units, is right to put up barriers to clever attempts to get around a clearly needed law.

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