GOP spars over bill to rein in cafes further

Over objections from Attorney General Mike DeWine and Senate Republicans, the Ohio House stripped from a bill a provision that would have stuck a second knife into the state’s Internet-cafe industry.

“It’s very disappointing, to say the least,” Sen. Jim Hughes, R-Columbus, said yesterday. Hughes is a joint sponsor of Senate Bill 141, which attempted to place another layer of restrictions on what were largely unregulated gambling operations.

Though lawmakers earlier this year passed House Bill 7, which limits sweepstakes machine payouts and has resulted in the closing of many Internet cafes or sweepstakes parlors, Senate Republicans were concerned the bill had holes that operators could try to exploit. So they passed another bill in June that would prohibit any business from conducting sweepstakes that exceed 5 percent of the business’s gross annual revenue.

Senate GOP leaders also were concerned that the Internet-cafe industry might overturn or delay implementation of House Bill 7 for about 18 months through a ballot referendum. But cafe owners failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, allowing the law to go into effect.

“The desire to deal with it again, I think, was a problem for our caucus,” said Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina. “We do have a law now.”

Senate President Keith Faber, R-Celina, said he was not happy with the change and planned to send the bill to a conference committee in an attempt to work it out.

Sen. Larry Obhof, RMedina, a joint sponsor of the bill, said he was not told until yesterday that the House planned to strip out the Internet-cafe provision. The remaining portion of the bill helps deal with money laundering schemes by players at Ohio casinos.

“Our concern is that, as with prior attempts to regulate certain types of gaming, that we’d be playing a game of Whack-amole. We thought the language in Senate Bill 141 was the best approach to preventing that,” he said.

Before a House committee vote on the bill, Rep. Ron Gerberry, D-Austintown, said he sees some Internet cafes are still operating. He questioned whether it’s a good idea to remove the provision.

Peter Thomas, chief of the Charitable Law Section at the attorney general’s office, said DeWine was a strong supporter of House Bill 7, but the new proposal would help further “clamp down on these industries.”

Also yesterday, during the Senate session, a measure to revamp Ohio’s Medicaid law passed 27-5.

Sen. Dave Burke, the Marysville Republican who sponsored Senate Bill 206, said if spending targets — not mandates — are met in the bill, each Ohioan would save $750 over the next six years.

The Senate also approved 32-0 a bill — sponsored by Lancaster Republican Tim Schaffer — that would prohibit a driver from operating a vehicle on a closed road covered by high water. The bill would impose a fine to pay for the person’s rescue.

Both bills now go to the House.

Dispatch Public Affairs Editor Darrel Rowland contributed to this story.