Internet gambling for charity has arrived in Ohio, USA, to the chagrin of charity and gambling watchdogs. Firestone Park Athletic Association (baseball leagues sponsor), may be the first charity in the state to use online gambling to raise money.
Gamblers at www.winohio.com punch in credit card numbers, donate to Firestone Park and then wager on an electronic version of instant bingo. Is it legal? One gambling expert says the site offers slot-machine-style play that is banned in Ohio.
But Chris Slagle, spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery, said charities' use of the Internet to raise money was not illegal. Montgomery's office oversees charities in the state. "Nobody has objected to it," said Akron lawyer Donald George, who represents operators of the Web site and the charity.
Slagle noted, however, that instant bingo remains a virtually unregulated form of charitable gambling, open to abuse under laws crafted 25 years ago by legislators who never envisioned the game as it is promoted and played these days.
In a number of cases across Ohio, police are finding that millions of dollars wagered for charity are ending up in the pockets of private operators.
For decades, instant bingo - played with palm-sized cards with tabs that pull back to reveal winning combinations - was a staple of the state's licensed bingo games. But enterprising charities took instant bingo, or pull-tabs, outside the licensed games to taverns and storefront parlors in the mid-1990s.
State authorities have no idea how many of the unlicensed sites offer instant bingo but estimate Ohioans are gambling more than $1 billion yearly on pull-tabs. And now, instant bingo for charity is on the Internet.
One law enforcement official called it "opening Pandora's box," given the convenience that gamblers, especially addicted gamblers, will have in playing instant bingo on home computers. At www.winohio.com, players are welcomed to Ohio Peel-off Bingo. You can make donations up to $100 that become credits as you wager.
The site offers four games that mimic a box of instant bingo tickets. For $1 a bet, players of the "Bow & Arrows" game had a chance at winners ranging from $2 to $100 among 2,199 tickets. Winners receive checks within a week, George said. If all tickets are played, the charity's profit is $59.
The site asks players what charity they would like to donate to, but Firestone Park is the only selection. The charity's address is the Akron home of Donald Wagner, who is listed as the charity's president in state records. Firestone Park operates instant bingo parlors, including one on E. 185th St. in Cleveland.
The charity reported spending about $43,000 on baseball leagues near Akron Garfield High School in 1999. It listed revenues of about $217,000 and expenses of $174,000.
George said it was too early to tell whether the site will be successful. Clearly, there's money to be made on Internet gambling. Some 1,400 Internet sites, with computer servers based where gambling is legal, expect to take in $3 billion in wagers this year, according to the Interactive Gaming Council.
Under federal law, it's illegal to use phone lines to place or take bets across state boundaries. The antiquated law is difficult to enforce. To comply with federal law, the www.winohio.com site warns that only Ohio residents age 18 or older can play the game.
Former Cleveland police officer William Riedthaler, an expert on gambling and vice, argued that the site was illegal because the computerized instant bingo is nothing more than a slot machine, which is banned in Ohio.
In fact, law enforcement agencies in Franklin and Trumbull counties have seized instant-bingo machines from bingo parlors. But the slot-style machines are in wide use across the state, including at instant bingo stores in Cleveland, Willoughby, Maple Heights and Brunswick, according to Bingo Scene magazine.
Charity operators have argued that the machines are nothing more than electronic versions of pull-tabs and are not illegal.
Riedthaler also charged that www.winohio.com lacks accountability. "They're telling you how many tickets and winners there are, but there doesn't appear to be a way to check that," he said. "It's totally on the honesty of the Web site." Police agencies have a right to check Firestone Park's computerized records any time, George said.
Lawyers in the attorney general's office "are aware of the site and will stay apprised of any issues that arise with it," Slagle said. He noted that local law enforcement, not the state, is responsible for enforcing gambling laws. In the case of www.winohio.com, it's unclear where the gambling is actually occurring.
The Internet address is registered to a S. Waterloo Rd. site in Cleveland. The phone number belongs to West-Sider Anthony Harris, who helps operate instant bingo stores for Firestone Park, George said.
The Web site is on the computer server of Incom Integrated Computer Systems Inc., in Macedonia. Spokesman John Friesen said the gambling site became active in August.
The site's copyright is held by Kowalski Enterprises Inc. That's Mary Ann Kowalski, a charitable gambling consultant and former Firestone Park officer, George said.The Mayfield Heights businesswoman hopes to pitch the Internet gambling concept to the Ohio Lottery this week, George said.
Kowalski may not have a receptive audience. Lottery lawyer Kathleen Weiss said she immediately called the attorney general's office after learning of the Web site last week. Competition from instant bingo has been a factor in the lottery's sliding sales in recent years.
"We've got some serious questions about the site," Weiss said.
SOURCE:
Cleveland.com.
