(RALEIGH) -- The North Carolina Senate will soon vote on a bill that would expand a 2006 ban on video poker.

The measure would apply to so-called sweepstakes cafes where customers buy Internet or phone time but usually play computer-based games to win cash and prizes.

Bill sponsor Senator Josh Stein said the legislation would make it clear that all forms of video poker are illegal. "Every week these internet sweepstakes casinos are popping up in strip malls around our state targeted in low income communities and they are wreaking havoc on North Carolina families and North Carolina communities," said Stein.

One provider of the technology and hardware for the electronic sweepstakes said the bill could put as many as 12,000 people out of work.