Businesses Raided In Illegal Casino Crackdown

A busi­ness in North­towne Mall in Defi­ance was just one of six busi­nesses that were raided Thurs­day morn­ing as part of a crack­down on sus­pected ille­gal casi­nos. Inter­net Cafe, “Talk N Win” was raided yes­ter­day morn­ing by the Multi-Area Nar­cotics Task Force.

Ohio Attor­ney Gen­eral Mike DeWine issued a press release in which he says war­rants were also served at Talk N Win Inter­net cafes located in Toledo, Ore­gon, Fre­mont and Find­lay.

The Attor­ney Gen­eral also says a war­rant was served at Surf’s Up cafe in Ore­gon. Gam­ing machines were removed from each of the loca­tions, but so far, no arrests.

The Attor­ney General’s release says inves­ti­ga­tors have ben watch­ing the oper­a­tion for more than 18 months.

Talk N Win is a video gam­ing facil­ity, described on its web­site as a pro­mo­tional game cen­ter that gives out cash prizes. The prob­lem with that is that elec­tronic gam­ing devices with cash pay­outs meet the def­i­n­i­tion of slot machines under Ohio law, and cash prize pay­outs are only allowed in Ohio at reg­u­lated casi­nos and raci­nos.

The inves­ti­ga­tion is con­tin­u­ing and arrests may be forthcoming.