Politics & Government

Internet Sweepstakes Cafes are Talk of Tonight's Council Meeting

Fairlawn has drafted legislation to regulate Internet sweepstakes cafes and will discuss it more tonight.

Fairlawn City Council has been waiting for the state to pass legislation regarding the regulation of Internet sweepstakes cafes, but it has yet to do so.

So, in order to be proactive, the city has drafted up some ordinances to regulate the cafes, should anyone apply to open one in the city.

At Internet sweepstakes cafes, customers buy phone cards for any amount of money, and that money correlates to sweepstakes points. The customer uses the card to get on the Internet to surf or play sweepstakes games. Customers have the potential to win money, but the games are not considered gambling since the chance of winning is predetermined.

Find out what's happening in Fairlawn-Bathwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The coming to the city in February.

"We anticipated the state would act on creating some regulations for these establishments last year, but the state still hasn't acted," Law Director Edward Riegler has said. "We want to extend the moratorium until council can approve city legislation to regulate the cafes."

Find out what's happening in Fairlawn-Bathwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The legislation hasn't passed yet because police Chief Kenneth Walsh has been reviewing legislation passed by other cities that allow the cafes.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in


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