The Mississippi Gaming Commission raided an Internet café in downtown West Point on Sept. 12 seizing 40 computers that may have been used to facilitate Internet gambling, but officials refuse to give any information on the raid.
"I never said that they were participating in Internet gambling," Eddie Williams, MGC deputy director, told the Commercial Dispatch.
The raid is evidently related to investigations into illegal gambling machines across the State of Mississippi, where placing a bet anywhere outside of a racetrack, riverboat or state-sanctioned club is a misdemeanor punishable by fines of up to $500. While the state has no express written laws prohibiting Internet gambling, it is a felony offense, according to Williams.
Since the case is still under investigation, officials are staying tight-lipped about the raid. A Clay County Justice Court clerk told the Commercial Dispatch that officials are trying to present the case to the grand jury, so they are keeping it under wraps. No additional information will be made public until the grand jury hears the case.
The café was shut down after the seizure.
The MGC did not immediately return phone calls.