http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/business/sweepstakes-cafes-remain-open-now-1840311
By John Henderson
The Rocky Mount Police Department has continued to allow Internet sweepstakes cafes to remain open nearly two weeks after threatening to close them down.
A few of the cafes shut down after the N.C. Supreme Court upheld a state law banning the video games. Several other cafes closed temporarily and reopened with new software that store owners said complied with the law.
The new software reveals to a customer whether they have won a prize before they play any games. Customers also receive Internet time for their money. Prior to the software changes, the customers had to play games, which usually involve matching numbers or symbols on a spinning wheel, to learn if they had won a prize.
A legal challenge to allow the new form of software came to an end Monday.
Davidson County sheriff’s deputies charged the operators of a cafe in Midway with illegal possession of electronic machines and other devices for sweepstakes. The move came after the N.C. Supreme Court said a 2010 law banned the machines.