APEX - Rick Hancock and Ray Earnhardt, business partners seeking to open the town's first Internet sweepstakes parlor, say theirs is a legitimate and legal business unlike video poker operations, which are banned under state law.

But town leaders aren't so sure. And they're not taking any chances.

The Town Council has adopted a 60-day moratorium on sweepstakes parlors weeks after Hancock applied for a zoning permit to open the 55 Business Center in the Lawrence Crossing shopping center at Perry Road and N.C. 55.

The temporary ban closely mirrors similar moratoriums that have been considered or adopted in recent months in other towns across the state, including Elizabeth City and Wilmington.

Town officials say the move is necessary to learn more about sweepstakes parlors - sometimes known as "Internet cafés" or "business centers" - and any possible impact on the town.

"We want to take a break and study this type of use and where it fits in the community best," said Mike Wilson, Apex's assistant town manager.

" There are some concerns that this type of business has side effects on business areas. They might have attributes that are incompatible with land uses we have here now."

Sweeping the state

Internet sweepstakes parlors have been multiplying across North Carolina since the state banned video poker machines - a ban recently upheld by a state appeals court. At least two parlors exist in southwest Wake County. The H&P Business Center in Cary and the 401 Business Center in Fuquay-Varina bill themselves as Internet-copy-fax establishments. But many of their customers are there to play the sweepstakes.

Instead of wagering money, customers buy a prepaid phone card or Internet time on a terminal. Similar to a promotional sweepstakes at a fast-food restaurant, the purchase includes the chance to win cash. But instead of peeling or scratching off a game ticket, players sit in front of a computer screen that shows a hand of poker or dials of a slot machine.

Bruce Radford, the town manager in Apex, recently visited a sweepstakes parlor on New Bern Avenue in Raleigh. He challenged the notion that the simulated versions of poker machines or slots were any different than the real thing.

"I felt as though I was gambling on a slot machine," he said.

'Not illegal'

Earnhardt disputed that idea during the Town Council meeting. "We sell Internet time," he said. "We're not gambling. The business we're doing is not illegal."

Earnhardt side-stepped a question from Mayor Keith Weatherly, who wondered why sweepstakes parlors had become controversial in other towns like Rocky Mount and Wilson. Earnhardt said only that neither he nor Hancock operates stores in those two towns.

But he said the parlor on N.C. 55 would follow the same business model.

Apart from the gambling question, or perhaps because of it, council members also expressed reservations about the proposed parlor's clientele and its choice of location. If allowed, Earnhardt told the council that the 55 Business Center might stay open until 2 a.m. or later.

"I do get a little concerned about what kind of traffic you would have," Councilman Bill Jensen said. "That's why we need the moratorium, honestly, to take a look at how we would want to fit in this type of business."

The Town Council is expected to address the issue of sweepstakes parlors again at its May 11 meeting.