TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL)--Lawmakers are scheduled to take up a bill that will outright ban internet cafes in the state of Florida.
Florida lawmakers are ready to shutdown internet cafes for good.
"We need to do something about them and i want to do what I wanted to do last year and that's get rid of them," said Don Gaetz, Senate President.
Senate president Don Gaetz said he co-sponsored a bill during the 2012 legislative session that would have outright banned internet cafes. The bill however; made it out the house but didn't pass the senate floor. But a nationwide internet cafe scam including this facility in Tallahassee, led to dozens of arrests on Wednesday. This issue is once again front and center for lawmakers.
"We really ought to look at this and see exactly what went wrong and whether or not there are legitimate cafes who are complying with current law," said Representative Waldman.
Representative Jim Waldman says the facilities need to be "state" regulated, they are currently only controlled by counties.
"I've been a proponent to regulate these facilities in the state of Florida, I believe if we had regulated them, then its quite possible we would've caught this earlier," said Rep. Waldman.
But President Gaetz said there are loopholes in Florida law that allow the cafes to operate under sweepstakes.
"The law on the books never anticipated of what we think has become a billion dollar grey market industry in the state of Florida that preys on the vulnerable and the elderly in our state," said Gaetz.
