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DeWine backs bill limiting gaming
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has announced his support for legislation requiring licensing and limits on skill-based and sweepstakes amusement games.
Ultimately, the proposed law changes could make it tough for gaming parlors and so-called Internet cafes to stay in business.
“It’s going to be very difficult for them under these conditions to exist,” De-Wine told reporters Thursday. “Not impossible. It’s an economic decision that they will have to make, but it’s going to be difficult.”
DeWine and two Republican lawmakers announced the legislation during a press conference near the Statehouse.
Skill-based amusement machines, including Skee Ball, Whac-a-Mole and comparable games, are allowed under state law. But limits are in place on prizes — no cash or gift cards, and only merchandize with a wholesale value of less than $10.
The changes were made in recent years in an attempt to stop the proliferation of slot-machinelike terminals operated in sweepstakes parlors around the state.
But businesses have since sprouted around Ohio offering online games that DeWine said do not meet the definition of skill-based amusements.
“We have in the state of Ohio today a proliferation of unregulated electronic gaming devices,” he said. “These are the so-called sweepstakes parlors, so-called Internet cafes. They are really a threat to Ohio families. They are a rip- off to Ohio consumers. They are not regulated. We don’t know where the money goes.”
DeWine said existing law isn’t clear enough to enable law enforcement to crack down on potentially illegal gaming.
Austintown Zoning Inspector Darren Crivelli said he would welcome any legislation that puts clear regulations on these gaming businesses. Crivelli said Austintown has six Internet cafes.
“We’d like them to look at the program software to make sure they’re really sweepstakes and not slot machines,” he said.
Crivelli said once a cafe is approved by the zoning board, it’s difficult to police the business to make sure the sweepstakes software presented during the zoning hearing is the software they’re actually using.
“Though in talking with the police chief, there have been no problems with lawlessness. ... There’s no way to really oversee that they don’t turn into something considered illegal under Ohio Revised Code,” Crivelli said.
New legislation, to be offered by Cleveland- area Reps. Nan Baker and Marlene Anielski, would require skill-based or sweepstakes machines to be certified and licensed by the Ohio Casino Control Commission before being played by the public.
DeWine said most of the gaming terminals operating in Ohio probably would not pass muster during the licensing process. “They would have to come up with a game that is true skill under Ohio code,” he said.
The legislation also would allow municipalities to opt out of having gaming locations in their communities. And it would limit the number of sweepstakes gaming terminals to five per location.
Boardman Zoning Inspector Anna Mamone said an Internet sweepstakes cafe with 50 machines was approved at Tuesday’s Board of Zoning Appeals hearing. In that case, Savon Enterprises LLC, of Surf the World Internet Cafe, requested the permit for 960 Boardman-Canfield Road. That address is the location of Sateri retirement housing for senior citizens. The property already is zoned commercial.
The township has approved 10 Internet sweepstakes cafes, although one has since closed, Mamone said.
Prospective cafe owners must state the maximum number of gaming machines on the premises, provide a sample of the sweepstakes games and rules at the zoning hearing.
“As far as regulation, we’ve really not had any parameters from the state, which we were looking and hoping for. It was always a gray area,” Mamone said.
The township’s first request for an Internet sweepstakes cafe came Dec. 5, 2007, and was denied because the proposal also said the business would serve as a gathering place for 13- to 18-year-olds, she said. The first request approved was issued a permit Sept. 26, 2008.