Alabama shuts Internet cafes

Yep. Or should that be Yup? Anyway, according to the Mobile Register,

The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and the Alabama Attorney general Wednesday shut down two businesses where patrons used computers to participate in Internet sweepstakes, authorities said.

No arrests were made in Wednesday’s raids, but at least 60 computers and other items were being catalogued and confiscated from Lisa’s Internet Cafe on U.S. 90, just outside Theodore, and Jackie’s Internet Cafe on Schillinger Road. Arrests may follow after a lengthy investigation, authorities said.

At the businesses, patrons could buy prepaid Internet cards enabling them to log onto www.hello-money.com to participate in games while their points were tracked on the debit type provided by the cafes, Sheriff Jack Tillman said.

Look on the bright side. Gambling is one issue on which the inhabitants of the Deep South see eye-to-eye with Osama bin Laden. What a country!