9/2/2011
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, along with the top law enforcement officials of the state, on Thursday promised to crack down on one component of illegal gambling that they say is flourishing across the state in various Internet cafés.
An expansion of the so-called Internet cafés that draw online gamblers who are attracted by the potential cash payoffs have been witnessed by the state authorities. The governor revealed that there are now around fifty to one-hundred of these types of operations statewide.
Gov. Deal has declared, “Our state law prohibits gambling. The code is black and white on this issue.”
The governor was joined at a news conference at the Capitol by Attorney General Sam Olens and Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan, as well as many other state officials and stakeholders to make a solemn pledge to put an end to this industry.
It was learned by the GBI that the gambling industry plans to “aggressively expand” in the state of Georgia through various businesses that are set up as Internet cafés, but in reality are really Internet gambling parlors.
The governor’s office also revealed that the industry has plans to launch a vital expansion in the state, branching out to hundreds of locations, with some of these locations having as many as five hundred terminals for online gambling.
Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, for his part revealed, “There has been a concerted effort to skirt our laws, to intimidate prosecutors with complicated legal interpretations of existing law and to claim Internet cafes that provide gambling are not gambling and are not criminal. While the dark forces continue to come in our state and discourage prosecutors from taking the right action, we’re here to …actively deal with this problem.”
