Nov. 20--Internet sweepstakes cafes are ripe for illegal activities such as money laundering, racketeering and sex trafficking and should be banned in Ohio, the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police says.
Jay McDonald, president of the Ohio FOP, representing 25,000 members statewide, sent a sharply worded letter yesterday to Gov. John Kasich, Attorney General Mike DeWine and state lawmakers urging swift action against the cafes which have popped up in strip malls and vacant stores statewide.
There are now 819 Internet cafes registered with the attorney general's office, although the number could be higher. While the General Assembly enacted a ban on new cafes through June 30, 2013, they are currently legal and unregulated since they are not considered gambling under Ohio law.
McDonald said the cafes are "at best illegal gambling operations, and at worst, fronts for other more serious criminal activity" such as "consumer fraud, money laundering, racketeering, and sex trafficking." He said enforcement is now entirely left to local governments and law enforcement through licensing, fees, zoning regulations and other measures.
He called them "a blight on our communities" and urged officials to enact a complete ban in the cafes.
In most cases, no one knows where the money to start cafes comes from or where the profits go. Owners and operators do not have to undergo background checks. There is no required payout amount, unlike slot machines and video-lottery terminals at Ohio casinos and racinos which are inspected by the state and must pay at least 85 percent of the money bet back to customers.
At the cafes, customers buy either Internet time or a phone card. The customer gets access to a computer and gives the player the card's face-value amount of money to gamble. Whether the customer wins or loses is decided in advance, much like buying a scratch-off lottery ticket. Some cafes have a handful of machines, but others have 100 or more.
DeWine has been beating the drum against cafes almost since he came to office two years ago, but has been frustrated at lack of further legislative action.
"It's irrelevant to me what you call it," DeWine said in a previous interview with The Dispatch. "All we're saying is, there's a lot of money going out, and it's unregulated. And nobody can tell you what the odds are."
@ohioaj
Copyright 2012 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
