TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is calling for tougher regulations on internet cafes. Dewine supports a proposal that would require operators be licensed and limit the number of games per site.
Earlier this month, the Fremont Police Department raided three internet cafes in Fremont, with the help of the Attorney General's office. Charges have not yet been filed.
Fremont Police said undercover informants received cash pay outs at the internet cafes during a five-week investigation, which the police department considered gambling.
Several internet cafes are open and operational in the Toledo area. The Toledo Police Department has conducted several raids in the past, but a Toledo Municipal Court Judge ruled in 2009 in favor an internet café that challenged a raid.
Despite Fremont's raid this month, the Toledo Police Department undercover detective said there is not much its department can do to investigate the internet cafes in Toledo, because of that 2009 City of Toledo Municipal Court case ruling.
At The Players Club Internet Café in East Toledo, owner Robert Dabish said the business is legitimate.
"It is not gambling, it is a true sweepstakes," said Dabish.
At the Players Club Internet Cafe, customers purchase a usable phone card with minutes for long-distance calls. The card comes with bonus, "sweepstakes" points. According to Dabish, the customers can play the "sweepstakes" points on casino-style games on computers, or run the points through a computer for an automatic result. If customers win, they get a cash prize at the Players Club. Dabish said the sweepstakes points are pre-determined, and regardless of the outcome, customers keep their phone cards with purchased minutes.
"We sell a legitimate product, comparable to any of the big three- Verizon, AT&T, all those big companies out there, and we stand behind it." said Dabish.
Dabish said he would welcome possible new regulations for internet cafes.
"We run a true sweepstakes and a lot of people out there don't. That's what I want- Columbus, and everybody, to take care of. To go through everybody who don't run a true sweepstakes and get them shut down," said Dabish.
Toledo attorney and legal expert Jerry Phillips said because a higher court has not ruled on an internet café case, there is a gray area in the law.
