strip malls

Internet sweepstakes cafés elude anti-gambling laws by having customers buy account cards that are used to play simulated gambling games on computers.

The outcome is predetermined, but to the player, who doesn’t know whether the card will generate a return, it is like being at a slot machine.

The operators decide how much they will allow the “gamblers” to win. Customers win or lose points at a predetermined rate. And the owners can adjust the odds whenever they want.

It is a predatory practice aimed largely at the elderly and the poor. Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office rightly want to put a stop to it. Sheriff David Gee has warned owners they appear to be “conducting gambling activities,” and his office intends to investigate and enforce the law. Sheriffs in Pinellas and Pasco have shut down similar cafes and arrested owners.

Gambling is illegal in Hillsborough except in a few specified areas such as the Seminole Indian property.

Other than being required to register with the state Department of Agriculture, there is no oversight of the operations and no accounting of the cash that flows through them. Most are located in strip malls.

These gambling facilities are growing fast. Three years ago, there were no sweepstakes cafés in Hillsborough. Now, there are more than 25.

Murman is pushing an ordinance that would outlaw the “gambling devices” found in the cafés.

The well-funded operators will vigorously fight it, but Hillsborough County commissioners should consider the opinion of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who found the electronic games constituted “illegal slot machines or devices.”

And commissioners also can find guidance from U.S. District Court Judge John Antoon, who in a detailed ruling upheld Seminole County’s similar measure.

He found the Seminole ordinance specifically described the cafés’ “simulated gambling machines” that made payoffs to those playing the games. He pointed out that “none of the video games at issue is banned on its own — only the play of such a game in conjunction with the possibility of a payoff is banned.”

He refused operators’ request to issue a preliminary injunction against the Seminole ordinance.

Hillsborough commissioners should not allow little casinos to open up around the county. They should put an immediate halt to the spread of these strip-mall gambling dens.

By MIKE SALINERO | The Tampa Tribune
Published: August 17, 2011
Updated: August 17, 2011 – 10:30 PM

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TAMPA

Usually one of the calmer, more-demure Hillsborough County commissioners, Sandy Murman broke out of character Wednesday when a fellow board member suggested delaying an ordinance to shut down internet sweepstakes cafés.

Murman made the motion to ban the cafés, which she described as illegal gambling operations that feature computerized slot machines. The county sheriff’s office also supports a ban.

But Commissioner Victor Crist, raising the specter of lawsuits by the café owners, urged caution and suggested the county appoint a work group that included sweepstakes café owners to study the issue.

“I am totally surprised at what’s come out of your mouth,” Murman almost shouted at Crist, who served with her in the Florida Legislature. She pointed out that Crist had served for years on the state Senate Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations.

“You can’t sit at the table and try to work out a consensus with people that promote illegal gambling,” she said.

After long debate, Crist withdrew his motion and the board voted 7-0 to have the county attorney draw up an ordinance banning the cafés. A public hearing on the matter will be held sometime in coming months.

The cafés have proliferated in Hillsborough as adjoining counties have moved to shut them down. Murman said there are now 25 operating in the unincorporated areas of the county, and an unknown number in Tampa.

The businesses, which often locate in strip malls, sell internet time on computers. Patrons get phone cards that allow them to participate in sweepstakes contests that are just like playing a slot machine on a computer.

Chris Brown, a lawyer with the sheriff’s office, said the video sweepstakes games meet the state’s legal definition of slot machines, which are largely prohibited in Florida.

“They are illegal gambling,” Brown said.

But the cafés have persisted because of the ambiguity of state gambling law, Brown said. The law’s loopholes make it difficult to successfully prosecute café owners, who often fight back with civil lawsuits.

Defenders of the cafés say they are no different than the sweepstake cards that some businesses give to customers who buy something.

Jacksonville attorney Kelly B. Mathis, representing a not-for-profit called Allied Veterans, said Brown mislead the commission about the legality of the cafés.

“No judge has ever held that they are illegal, that they’re slot machines,” Mathis said after the meeting. Mathis said the veterans group, which operates about 40 internet cafés in Florida, would welcome “reasonable regulation.”

Commissioner Mark Sharp asked whether the board should wait to see if the Legislature passes clarifying legislation to the gambling statute next year. But Commissioner Kevin Beckner, citing the Legislature’s failure to deal with personal injury protection insurance fraud, nixed the idea.

“We need to protect our own community and not wait for Tallahassee to act,” Beckner said. “We have that responsibility as legislators up here to do what we feel are in the best interest of our community.”

Sandy Murman

Hillsborough to draw up law banning sweepstakes cafes