Wilmington’s internet sweepstakes moratorium may have few teeth

City council members say many residents are concerned about the number of internet sweepstakes cafes popping up, but a moratorium could be tough to enforce.

Tonight City Council will hold a public hearing on whether to put a 90-day moratorium on new sweepstakes cafes. Council members say it will give them time to figure out how to handle the gambling parlors before they get out of control.

Right now the city has more than 45 known businesses that have the sweepstakes machines, but they don’t know how many machines there are, and other businesses might have the machines, but didn’t report them, because they didn’t have to.

“There are some places that got licensed to be internet sweepstakes parlors,” Councilman Kevin O’Grady said. “But then there are some just machines that have been placed in other licensed uses as an ancillary use.”

That could make it difficult to enforce the moratorium at established businesses, but City Council says they will decide how to punish establishments that violate the order if they find out.

The City Council meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. We’ll let you know what happened tonight at 11.