California Clamping Down On Internet Gambling Cafes

A District Attorney in Bakersfield, California has begun cracking down on internet gambling at internet cafes by issuing cease and desist orders to nine locally owned cafes.

Speaking to reporters, Deputy District Attorney Greg Pulskamp said that online gambling at the cafes has escalated over the past few months.

"We have these facilities opening up left and right and it's a concern for us." Pulskamp said.

The D.A. went on to state that his detectives had visited different cafes during their investigation. "In all of the locations and out of all the times the detectives have gone there, out of all the customers, every single one of them were gambling except for one. And that one person was interviewed and he said the only reason he was surfing the Internet was because he had already lost all his money that day."

"If you take the number of terminals multiplied by the number of days that the cafes have been open multiplied by $2,500, we're looking at tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars."

The cease and desist order was issued by a County Superior Court Judge who demanded that internet cafes remove the sweepstakes element of their businesses. Cafes that fail to stop offering internet gambling will face penalties of up to $2,500 per violation.