Lawmaker Quits Internet Sweepstakes Cafe Business, New Owner Takes Over

Palm Harbor Patch has learned there's a new player in the battle over internet sweepstakes cafes in Palm Harbor.

After owning the internet sweepstakes cafe for less than three months, State Rep. Peter Nehr, R-Palm Harbor has sold the business to Megan Crisante and her father Timothy Crisante.  

The name Crisante may not sound familiar to you, but the family has some experience when it comes to owning sweepstakes cafes and defending charges against them.

Sweepstakes cafes sell phone cards that also contain free sweepstakes points that can be used to play online games in the cafe. The controversy over their legality and safety has attracted national attention.

The Crisante family's court battle over their cafe was back in October of 2010, a Marion county jury found Megan Crisante's stepmother, Jeaneen Crisante, not guilty of operating a gambling house and possessing slot machines, both are felony charges. Jeaneen Crisante had operated a sweepstakes cafe in Marion county called Marion Internet Services. Her husband Timothy often helped out at the business. 

Now, Megan and her father Timothy have purchased Nehr's Fun City, she refused to disclose how much they paid for the business. The sale came shortly after Nehr closed the sweepstakes cafe on May 27.

The lawmaker says he's divested himself from all financial interests in Fun City and shut down at the request of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. 

"After careful deliberation, I have decided not to take this issue to court. I do not want my legislative office or the Florida Legislature to be involved in any unnecessary media attention that will detract from our main focus of getting Florida's economy back on track," said Nehr.

The lawmaker says he researched the legality of the business before he purchased it, and opened it in good faith that it was a legal retail business. He also wants people to know that he did not move the business to any other location or county. 

This whole chain of events was set in motion by Pinellas County Sheriff, Jim Coats. On May 13, Coats sent letters to the owners of four businesses in Pinellas County warning them the sheriff's office could investigate further if the businesses were still operating 15 days later on May 28. Three of the businesses are right here in Palm Harbor.

The letter claimed the businesses were using illegal coin-operated gambling devices, which in previous instances resulted in criminal charges being filed against the owners. Coats cited Florida Gambling Statutes 849.15, 849.16 and 849.01.

Dave Bogansky who is a consultant for the new owners of Fun City said the business is 100 percent compliant with the law, "My client does not know what Mr. Nehr or Fun City had done, but we have made sure the business complies with the sweepstakes law in Florida," he said.

Owner Megan Crisante says, "We operate to the T of the law…..we're not hurting anybody, we're not operating illegally." 

Sgt. Tom Nestor with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office says investigators are aware that Nehr sold the business and they've been in contact with the new owners, "They'll be checking it out."

As for the other Palm Harbor businesses that received letters from the sheriff, the removed any computers that may have been targeted by the sheriff, and the owner for Reel Fun sweepstakes cafe filed a request for an injunction, with the hope of preventing Sheriff Coats from seizing the business' computers. However a judge dismissed the request. 

Meanwhile, Crisante says business at Fun City has been going well. She says she has a lot of elderly clients, some of whom have found the sweepstakes games to be a helpful diversion when dealing with crises like cancer and ailing spouses.

But, even though Fun City has been under new ownership for less than two weeks, the new owner already appears to be tiring of the controversy. Crisante says, "I just wish all the bad publicity would go away."