Florida recently took legal action to ban 'Internet cafes' that have sprung up in strip malls across the state and may have accidentally outlawed all computers and smartphones with a hastily written law, according to the Huffington Post.
The Internet cafes came to the attention of Republican Gov. Rick Scott after a racketeering investigation against Allied Veterans of the World showed that the slot-machine-like games being played were actually a front for illegal gambling, according to the Associated Press.
The Florida legislature moved very quickly, and possibly without thinking things through, when they banned the Internet cafes. One of these cafes claims that they have been wrongfully accused and that they did not run a gambling operation yet were forced by the law to shut down, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
A lawsuit was filed by Consuelo Zapata, owner of Incredible Investments, LLC., arguing that the state effectively banned all computers when it defined slot machines as any "system or network of devices" that could be used to create a game of chance, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
"They rushed to judgment and they took what they saw as a very specific problem and essentially criminalized everything," Justin Kaplan, the lawyer representing Zapata, said.
Zapata has argued that the computers she operates are used mostly by illegal aliens hoping to get in contact with their families back home. Kaplan argues that with the way is worded if Zapata's shop is shut down then so should anywhere that offers Wi-Fi.
"Starbuck is running illegal slot machines because they provide their customer with a Wi-Fi system that indirectly allows people to gain access to their phone to allow them to play games of chance that allow payouts," Kaplan told the Tampa Bay Times.
The suit filed by Kaplan is one of at least three similar lawsuits attacking the wording of the law. One of the other suits is seeking to shut down a Dave & Buster's as a "gambling house" because its games meet the same criteria as the games in the Internet cafes that have been shut down, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Despite the possible lawsuits and hasty wording of the bill Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, told the Tampa Bay Times that he didn't regret passing the law.
"I am proud that we shut down the illegal Internet cafes in Florida," Weatherford said. "It's good policy, and I'm only disappointed it took this long to do it."
