NC Supreme Court issued the Hest opinion and the Sandhill opinion and said 14-306.4 was constitutional. The Court said in Hest: “The General Assembly has chosen, through N.C.G.S. § 14–306.4, to address a specific type of sweepstakes operation that exploits a loophole in the state’s gambling laws but presents the same social evils as gambling, while deciding that the majority of sweepstakes operations (which do not pose the same risks) are legitimate marketing tools.” It also said: “…the factual record here does not show whether the telephone or Internet time that sweepstakes participants purchase is ever used. Thus, legislative findings and common sense notwithstanding, we cannot on this record summarily conclude that these plaintiffs are involved in an illegal gambling operation that uses the sale of legal products as a pretext to avoid state gambling laws.”
Hest Tech case (Dec 2012) Research Sandhill Amusements Inc v State (Dec 2012)