Council Extends Moratorium on Internet Gaming Cafés

In the 18 months since Lakewood City Council began approving a moratorium on Internet gaming cafés, none of them have opened in the city.

And city officials hope to keep it that way.

In October 2010, with at least one Internet gaming café knocking on the door, passed a six-month moratorium to sort out the issue.

Council has passed a couple more of them since then.

At Monday’s meeting, council extended the moratorium on sweepstakes gaming cafés or computer game centers for at least another six months.

Lakewood Law Director Kevin Butler said he hopes the state — with its own legislation in the works — has settled the issue by then.

It’s a hope he’s had since he first OK’d the ordinance as the Ward 1 councilman.

“I have no idea how to predict what the General Assembly is going to do,” Butler said, adding that the he’s gotten some encouragement recently from Columbus.

The city cannot ban the gaming cafés outright.

“You can’t just pick an industry and ban it, or else you lay yourself bare to lawsuits,” he said. “Private property rights in America are very strong.”

Here’s how the Internet gaming cafés work: Customers pay per minute to use the Internet, and while online they earn credits to play games of chance. There are cash payouts for those who are successful.

Neighboring communities such as Brook Park and Parma Heights have approved the establishments, but Lakewood hopes to keep them out. Other communities, such as Strongsville, .

And others, like Berea, have drafted regulations that allow the businesses to operate only in certain sections of the city and between certain hours.

“Essentially, they’re cast as loopholes to the prohibition against gambling in Ohio,” Butler said last year. “And since there’s been enough of a question of law in the state whether they’re permissible, the law needs to be developed further.”