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Columbus
Dispatch...
DeWine wants tighter
controls on ‘skill games’
Friday, March 18, 2011
By Alan Johnson
The unregulated world of “sweepstakes” games and Internet cafes would
be policed by the Ohio Casino Control Commission under legislation
promoted yesterday by Attorney General Mike DeWine.
Saying he doesn’t want Ohio to turn into the “wild, wild west,” DeWine
called for licensing and regulation of the gaming devices - some of
which resemble slot machines - which he called “a threat to Ohio
families and a rip-off to Ohio consumers.”
DeWine was joined at a news conference at his Rhodes Tower office by
state Reps. Nan Baker, R-Westlake, and Marlene Anielski, R-Walton
Hills, sponsors of legislation to enable regulators to oversee
electronic sweepstakes and other “skill-based” games. They now are
unregulated because there’s a “big hole in Ohio law,” DeWine said.
As a backdrop, DeWine had brought in a skill-game machine seized in
Marion. Appropriately for St. Patrick’s Day, the machine was named
“Luck of the Irish.”
The proposed legislation would make it “very difficult but not
impossible” for game operators to remain in business, DeWine said.
Officials once said that there might be as many as 50,000 machines in
operation in the state, but DeWine said there is no reliable count
because they are unregulated. “It’s been a growth industry for the past
seven years,” he added. “They’re popping up all over the state.”
The proposal would require the games to be examined, certified and
stamped by the Ohio Casino Control Commission. Operators would have to
be licensed and would be limited to no more than five games at a single
location. Violators would face criminal penalties.
Anielski said she visited several of the gaming locations, which often
call themselves “business centers” where they make copies and provide
fax service. One of the centers had 62 game machines, she said.
JoAnn Davidson, head of the casino commission, said the enabling
legislation that allows four casinos in Ohio also includes general
language for regulation of skill games beginning July 1. She said the
DeWine proposal is a good idea that might result in a great deal of
enforcement work by her commission.
Previous attempts to regulate such devices have been hampered by
ambiguous state laws.
Late last year, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the Ohio General
Assembly was within its rights to limit payouts from such games to $10.
While they mimic slot machines, the games rely partly on player skill,
making them legal in Ohio.
Read it at the Columbus Dispatch
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