RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sweepstakes halls across North Carolina will be out of business at least temporarily, after the state’s highest court on Friday upheld a law banning the video games run by businesses that often mimic small, electronic casinos located everywhere from big-city strip malls to country crossroads.

“The operators and the developers will have to go back to the drawing board to see how they can run a legal business under the law,” said Brad Crone, a spokesman for the Internet Based Sweepstakes Operators.