COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -
The doors on one Internet cafe on Two Notch Road are closed today, but will they be that way tomorrow?
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott sure hopes so, because he says what's happening behind them is illegal.
Sweepstakes and, he says, plain and simple gambling. Otherwise, why would a business center need a license to sell beer?
"I've had business people that I know that did not know what the business was, went in to ask them something, and they looked and saw, and called me up," Lott said.
It's why Café 21 on Sparkleberry Road Extension was searched on Wednesday. Twenty machines with 45 games a piece were seized and owner Norman Ferrell, manager Misha Jenkins, and customer Fran Washington were all charged with gambling.
"We send undercover people in who play the game and engage in the illegal gambling, that's a part of the undercover operation," Lott said.
Two Internet cafes, both within a mile of the sheriff's office, were closed today. At A&C Business Center, some tell us the doors are always locked, and opened only when customers approach.
"It is a little fishy that they are open and they have the signs on the door that say you have to be 18 to go in," Lott said.
An investigation found all had business licenses for Internet publishing and broadcasting, and one had a sheriff's sticker, so what makes it illegal?
"You're taking a chance on winning some money, but you start off by you have to pay to get that chance. They say you're paying for that time, it's just gambling," Lott said.
Lott hopes they'll close voluntarily.
"They're illegal and we're going to come get you," Lott said. "It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but eventually, it's going to happen."
If not then Lott says he'll gladly do it for them.
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