States continue to crack down on Internet cafes

Pew States – Many Internet cafes that have popped up in suburban strip malls and gas stations offer something more than coffee and access to the Web and email. Known as Internet sweepstakes cafes, they sell time on computers that can have the look, sound and feel of slot and video poker machines, sometimes with cash payouts for winners. State and local authorities say the operations are illegal gambling, but shutting them down hasn’t been easy. More than $10 billion in revenue a year is the incentive to stay in business for these storefronts, numbering in the thousands. For some…