Internet cafes in Ohio face ban

In some parts of the world Internet cafes are places for video gamers to gather or for study-abroaders to email parents back home. But in Ohio, they are often used for online gambling -- and they might not be around much longer.

"These places are not regulated," says Tom Ott, reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "The actual activity at the machine level is not tracked." Internet cafes equipped with computer games resembling casino games have popped up across the state in strip malls and rural areas. They operate sort of like sweepstakes, where a user can buy time for, say, $20 and end up winning $2,000. "You go and ostensibly purchase Internet or phone time, and based on that purchase, you get points for games that are played on computers that function like slot machines," Ott says.