Ohio authorities try to stall internet cafes

John Blaise
January 31, 2011
4 Comments

sweepstakes cafeIt’s okay in Ohio to have land-based casinos built where people can gamble and entertain themselves, but for people to be able to do that from an Internet Cafe, is apparently, crossing the line.

Ohio government officials are making attempts to stall the proliferation of Internet Cafes across the state. Despite the fact the legality of Internet cafes is still under review, State and local authorities say the online games of skill played at these cafes resemble slot machines and are sanctioned through a loophole in Ohio gambling laws.

If I may, there’s no loophole where there’s no law. Internet cafe’s are new phenomenon and they don’t fall into old laws, customers purchase prepaid cards and then collect the winnings which are preset by the computer, there’s no law that addresses that. If Ohio really wants to clarify the issue, they should consider revising the online gambling regulation at the State level like New Jersey is trying to do. Instead, some Miami Valley cities have taken steps to stall potential openings with a 90-day temporary moratorium against issuing permits for Internet cafes. Other Ohio cities are now considering using the same bandaid.

It doesn’t make much sense to me why Ohio would want to shut down this form of entertainment. It’s not like there’s plenty of exciting things to do in the state. I guess, people could always watch the Cavaliers…Actually, they’d probably rather risk getting arrested at an Internet Cafe.

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Tags: Article, Internet Cafe, Ohio Casino
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  • litup

    People that want to use these cafes should be allowed to do so. IF taxed properly they could add to budgets of local governments and we all know they can use the money.

  • http://calvinayre.com/2011/04/01/legal/fairhaven-police-raid-internet-cafes/ Gambling industry: State police raid internet cafes on suspicion of illegal gambling

    [...] TimingPress ReleasesFairhaven police raid internet cafes Mark McKenna April 1, 2011 View CommentsRaids on internet cafes have been happening across the US for years now. Police execute these elaborate raids on the basis [...]

  • Wayne

    Don't forget at least these places are creating jobs.  Since the Government can't create any let them.  If you think about each one of these places have 4-8 employees and at least one full time employee