Lawsuit to Challenge Florida’s Internet Café Ban

An internet café operator is suing the state of Florida challenging the constitutionality of the Legislature’s ban on illegal slot machines.

The lawsuit claims that the Legislature has applied the ban to all computers when it defined illegal slot machines as any “system or network of devices” that can be used in a game of chance.

This effectively makes all computers and smartphones illegal.

Justin Kaplan from the law firm Kluger, Kaplan, Silverman, Katzen & Levine said that the Legislature “rushed to judgement and they took what they saw as a very specific problem and essentially criminalised everything”.

The case is asking for the court to throw out the law passed “in a frenzy fueled by distorted judgment in the wake of a scandal that included the lieutenant governor’s resignation.”

When asked about the lawsuit House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel said, “I am proud that we shut down the illegal internet cafes in Florida. It’s good policy and I’m only disappointed it took this long to do it.”

Since the law was passed around 200 operators of adult arcades, more than 1,000 internet cafes and hundreds of maquinitas have been forced to close down across Florida.