NYPD cracking down on gaming at cafes

From the Daily News:

Cops want to fold illegal “sweepstakes cafes” that offer patrons cash prizes as they play online games.

Officers have been ordered to notify the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau when they find such cafes, which have been popping up in Brooklyn and Queens.

Detectives visit the joint to see if it’s breaking the law — but the line is blurry.

At such cafes, customers pay to play Internet games — and winners get additional game time or long-distance telephone minutes.

That appears to legal.

But as they play, gamblers are automatically entered into online sweepstakes that randomly pay cash, officials said.

And that appears to be illegal.

The sweepstakes cafes are a “new illegal gambling trend similar to Joker Poker (machines) or electronic slots,” according to an NYPD memo from Oct. 18.

“Many locations are . . . promising cash prizes for playing games,” the memo continues. “(Cops) should remain vigilant of illegal Internet gambling.”

The city has already taken other steps to rein in these reputed dens of iniquity.

In May, the City Council passed a bill to allow the Department of Consumer Affairs to yank the license of any cafes caught giving out cash prizes.

OTB site to continue gambling?

From the Queens Chronicle:

Civic groups in Bellerose are concerned over a proposal to bring a “gaming cafe” to an area that already has several pawn shops and what some consider “questionable” spas. They have urged the community board to vote against the plan.

Menesh Patel wants to open the establishment at 245-19 Jericho Turnpike, a former OTB site, and the Queens Colony Civic Association, the Bellerose Hillside Avenue Civic Association and the Joint Bellerose Business District Development Corp. have expressed their disapproval. Patel could not be reached for comment by press time.

There are several issues of concern. Even though the owner assured residents at a meeting two weeks ago that the site would not be used for gambling, according to Angela Augugliaro, president of the Queens Colony Civic Association, the word gaming is often associated with such activity. And although the owner also said there would not be any accessibility to porn sites, customers must be at least 18 years of age and would be subject to an ID check, Augugliaro said.

This 40-seat gaming cafe is scheduled to open in late August. The Department of Consumer Affairs gave Community Board 13 a time frame of 15 days to decide whether it was for or against the plan, according to District Manager Larry McClean.

And in Flushing, a 24-hour "internet cafe" has opened. Who's trekking out to use the web at 3am?

Noise from sidewalk cafes a concern in Astoria

From DNA Info:

Astoria is becoming clogged with noisy sidewalk cafes that draw crowds of diners and bargoers to the neighborhood and make life miserable for locals, especially at night, some residents say.

The problem has become so bad in some spots that Community Board 1 rejected bids by two businesses at a meeting last Tuesday night to get outdoor seating, despite approving several other applicants for either renewed or new sidewalk cafes.

Dozens of sidewalk cafes on 30th Avenue, some of which stay open late in the evenings, have been attracting young and sometimes noisy crowds, turning longtime residents' lives into sleep deprived nightmares, according to residents.

"It is impossible to sleep at night," Karen Afrides, 54, who has lived on 36th Street off 30th Avenue for 20 years, said at a heated public hearing last Tuesday.

"Why is our quality of life diminished because some people want to have a good time? It’s not our good time."

Afrides, one of several residents who expressed their dissatisfaction with numerous sidewalk cafes and booming nightlife in the area. "We have to have our sidewalks back," she said.