Internet cafes are not what they seem in San Diego.  Unregulated online casinos have made them a hot spot for illegal gambling fronts.  Gamblers that are not willing to commute all the way to local casinos and desperate for the available convenience of online casinos, have resorted to using Internet cafes as their own personal casinos.  Several cafes are knowingly allowing players to gamble at online casinos and seeing a good profit from it.

“It's just a front for a gambling operation, said Las Vegas gaming expert George Joseph.

“You better believe you're at risk.”

The purpose of Internet cafes is to provide a place for patrons to surf the web, chat at networking sites and check email.  However a whole new business has been formed around providing a place to gamble at online casinos.

“People are bypassing the law … you can bypass the law and gamble online,” continued Joseph.

Internet gambling is not legal in California.  That has not stopped an overwhelming amount of online casino fronts from popping up all over the state.  Law enforcement has discovered several fronts and arrests are being made for unregulated gambling.

Not all the cafes are allowing gamblers to visit online casinos out right.  Some cafes are offering what is known as Internet sweepstakes.  The sweepstakes operate a lot like online casinos but there are elements of chance removed, pushing the gaming into a legal grey area.  With regulated online casinos, neither of these operations would really have a market and law enforcement resources could go toward stopping real crime.