State Attorney General Martha M. Coakley said cafe was nothing more than an illegal slot parlor.
Cafeno's Cyber Cafe at 76 Main Street in Chicopee just after it was closed in March and an investigation began. SPRINGFIELD – A Westfield man and his business partner will be arraigned Wednesday in Hampden Superior Court on charges of running an illegal gambling operation at a now-closed Internet cafe in Chicopee.
Steven Sheldon, 48, of Westfield, owner of the cafe, and his business partner, Steven Megliola, 52, of Longmeadow, were indicted in November on charges of organizing or promoting gambling services and operating an illegal lottery.
Their business - Cafeno’s Cyber Cafe at 76 Main St. - closed in March after it was raided by state police.
Sheldon was also indicted for allowing lotteries in a building and the sale and advertising of lottery tickets.
Their corporation, Cafeno’s Inc., faces the same charges, in the case brought by state Attorney General Martha M. Coakley’s office.
“This cyber cafe was nothing more than an illegal, unregulated slot parlor with no protections for consumers,” Coakley said at the time of the indictments. “We allege that these defendants operated a gambling facility in direct violation of existing Massachusetts law.”
Under state law, it is illegal to run or promote a gambling operation, the attorney general said. The current gambling law in this case points to the existence of an illegal “lottery,” according to the attorney general.
The definition of a lottery includes a payment to play, a prize, and some element of chance.
Coakley’s office on March 31 closed down Cafeno’s Cyber Cafe in Chicopee and confiscated some video games as part of an investigation of possible gaming violations, officials said.
Coakley said that customers at Cafeno’s paid only for the right to gamble online and not, as the operators claim, to use the Internet and play a free sweepstakes.
Investigators allege that “no purchase required” opportunities were trivial and insignificant and gambling was the only clear purpose at Cafeno’s, Coakley said.
Legislation to ban Internet slot cafes is languishing on Beacon Hill, allowing several of the businesses to continue to run in Western Massachusetts amid legal questions about their operations.
With fanfare and support from the attorney general, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo in mid-July filed the bill to shut down the so-called cyber cafes. Since then, despite the powerful backing, the bill inched ahead through the legislative process.
The state Legislature only agreed on Oct. 27 to send it to the Judiciary Committee. The bill probably won’t receive a public hearing until early next year, says Alexis Tkachuk, chief of staff for the committee.
In November, Coakley’s office said it has “active and ongoing” investigations into cyber cafes across the state. “We are doing this one-by-one. Each one is a question of fact,” Coakley said.