Gambling News from http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/
The manager of a new Internet cafe in Phenix City feels there is no correlation between the video sweepstakes games in her business and gambling.
"We sell prepaid Internet cards and there's no purchase required," said Rose Ivy, manager of the Internet Cafe that opened a little more than two weeks ago on the U.S. 280 Bypass in the Village Green Shopping Center space that formerly housed the Alabama Career Center System. "There's a lot you can do on the machines... the computers."
Customers of the cafe can use the machines to surf the Internet, check their e-mail or even start an e-mail account. What they can also do is play sweepstakes games and win cash prizes.
That's what makes Phenix City officials nervous. The city that has emerged from its "Sin City" past of 1950s-era gambling and prostitution is anxious to avoid even a hint of its return within Phenix City's borders.
"I think it's illegal," said Phenix City Mayor Jeff Hardin. "I think it's unfortunate that they would come and submit an application for a license and not be truthful. We've had several conversations with the DA (Russell County District Attorney Kenneth Davis) and he seems to think it's illegal."
The "Hello Money" prepaid sweepstakes games are like video slot machines. Customers can use their credit -- each customer receives 160 free credits a day, worth 1 cent per credit -- to win prizes or additional Internet time on the debit card they are provided. The customer can purchase additional credits -- the more credits one has, the better the chance to win.
Riley involved
A visit to the "Hello Money" Web site finds links to sweepstakes run by such companies as Pepsico and Nabisco. It also includes the disclaimer "Prepaid Sweepstakes is a promotional tool used in association with the purchase of prepaid Internet time."
But the games have been controversial since they were brought to the state by Victoryland owner Milton McGregor, who also runs the Birmingham Race Course. Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale confiscated 300 machines at the race course last December, but they were returned to the course in January after a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge ruled the machines were "a sham," but legal. The case is being appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court.
Since the Birmingham case, the games have been popping up all over the state, including the Oxford-Anniston area, Cullman and even rural Clay County. Now there's one in Phenix City.
The Russell County district attorney's office is investigating the issue of the sweepstakes games' legality.
"We're looking into it. It's going on in a variety of circuits and counties in the state," Davis said. "We have the opinion in Jefferson County where a circuit judge ruled it was legal... in his opinion. We have our doubts."
Ivy, a mother of four who moved to Phenix City from Texas to manage the business, disagrees.
"I don't believe it's gambling. People should try it and make up their own minds," she said.
Earlier this month, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley asked the Alabama Supreme Court to overturn the ruling by the Jefferson County judge and make the sweepstakes games illegal in the state. The ruling has been appealed and Riley has joined it.
In his friend of the court brief to the Supreme Court, Riley said, "The people of Alabama have spoken on this issue time and time again. They are opposed to lotteries and the expansion of gambling. This scheme at the race track is a lottery and it's illegal. That's what I'm asking the Supreme Court to decide so we can stop illegal gambling in Alabama."
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