RALEIGH, N.C. — If a plan to radically expand gambling in North Carolina is to become law this year, it will have to be as part of the new state budget that lawmakers hope to pass next week, Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger said Thursday.
But, according to an email sent Wednesday night and obtained by WRAL, the House Speaker told his fellow Republicans that he doesn't have the GOP votes to pass a budget with expanded gaming in it.
"To be clear we will not pass a budget that does not have 61 Republican votes," Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, wrote to his members at 9:23 p.m. Wednesday.
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