Don't give haven to sweepstakes cafes

In an effort to evade Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats' efforts to put them out of business, owners of Internet sweepstakes cafes are shifting their unregulated gambling operations from unincorporated areas of the county into cities. But St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon and other chiefs should be just as unwelcoming to these gambling parlors. If Harmon and the other local chiefs fail to shut down the cafes, law enforcement courtesies notwithstanding, Coats should feel free to continue his pursuit.

Fearing arrest and loss of their equipment by Coats, several sweepstakes cafes, which sell Internet time or phone cards to customers that allow them to use a computer to access casino-style games similar to slot machines, have moved on to St. Petersburg and Clearwater. Sweepstakes cafe supporters offer convoluted logic in arguing their games aren't really gambling scams but efforts to promote their business. If the owners of the cafes were convinced they were legal, they would not be moving to avoid the sheriff.

Harmon and other police chiefs should join forces with Coats. If this gambling is illegal in the county, and it should be, then it should be illegal in St. Petersburg and Clearwater.