ALE Investigating Business Located at State House Candidate’s Property

North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement is investigating a business that has offered video gambling at a Lee County property owned by Republican state House candidate Charles Taylor. 

The development follows an Assembly report this month about a building with 22 video lottery machines on site that appeared to be luck-based slot games. In North Carolina, such games are illegal.  

The North Carolina Tribune first reported the state investigation on Friday. ALE spokesperson Ashley Thornton confirmed the agency’s inquiry to The Assembly. 

“ALE received a complaint regarding 2101 Tramway Rd,” Thornton told The Assembly in a statement, referring to the address of Taylor’s Sanford property. Thornton said the complaint had been sent to the agency’s Lee county office so an agent could investigate. Thornton didn’t say who filed the complaint, but she said in a follow-up message that it was focused on the video gambling business. 

Phillip Thomas, an attorney representing Taylor, said ALE hadn’t informed his client about the investigation.

“He owns the property, but he does not own or operate the tenant’s business or equipment,” Thomas wrote in a statement. 

Taylor purchased the Tramway Road property in December 2025 for $60,000, records show. Taylor said earlier this month that he rented it out and wasn’t aware of illegal activity taking place on site. The Assembly reported this month that Taylor hadn’t disclosed the property on ethics paperwork. He has since updated his disclosures.

While North Carolina outlaws many types of video-based gambling, enforcement is inconsistent across the state, and operators have found loopholes to exploit. For example, some provide internet access in exchange for free gameplay. But the Tramway Road location made no such effort when The Assembly visited the location on October 9. Customers simply needed to deposit cash into the machines and inform staff once they were ready to cash out. 

Under state law, a building that is leased for illegal gambling can be deemed a nuisance. Whether Taylor violated the law could depend on what he “knew or by the exercise of due diligence should have known.”

Earlier this week, Taylor filed a defamation lawsuit against a group called the Sandhills Citizens Alliance for a mailer it sent to voters in House District 51. The mailer, which cited The Assembly’s reporting, claimed that “Charles Taylor owns an illegal gambling operation.” (The Assembly reported that he owned the building, not the business.)

The Sandhills Citizens Alliance wants Taylor to crack down on his tenants.

“Clearly, the action Taylor could take today is to investigate and stop any illegal activity on his property, which he has owned since last December,” the group said in a statement. “The law doesn’t let a landlord bury his head in the sand.”

In a news release on Tuesday from the law firm representing Taylor, Lee County Sheriff Brian Estes said that he hadn’t received complaints about illegal activity or referred the matter to ALE. Estes didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Taylor is running for state House against unaffiliated voter April Montgomery. He is heavily favored to win in a district that a Republican carried by 29 percentage points in 2024.