Ohio appeals court upholds gambling convictions

CLEVELAND (AP) — An appeals court in Ohio has upheld the gam­bling con­vic­tions of three Inter­net cafes.

The 8th Ohio Dis­trict Court of Appeals ruled Thurs­day against the own­ers of the cafes in Cleve­land. Two own­ers and four employ­ees received probation.

The three-judge panel rejected argu­ments that the cafes exist to sell Inter­net time and just offered slots-like com­put­er­ized games as a mar­ket­ing tool.

The attor­ney for the defen­dants, Don Malar­cik, tells The (Cleve­land) Plain Dealer (bit.ly/ZEqbeQ) that the deci­sion will be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court.

The sta­tus of the cafes has been the sub­ject of intense lob­by­ing in Colum­bus. Last week the Ohio House voted over­whelm­ingly to approve a crack­down on the store­front gambling-like operations.

Back­ers of the cafes say they are legal and help the economy.

Posted by Matt Echelberry on Mar 22 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.