SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Owners of an Internet cafe in San Francisco’s Excelsior District reached a settlement on Thursday in a lawsuit filed by the city’s attorney that called for the end of allegedly illegal gambling and other criminal activity at the site.

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As part of the settlement, Net Stop, located at 4458 Mission St., agreed to close the business, which the city attorney claimed allowed customers to play computer slot machine games and buy electronic “points” that could be redeemed for cash, within the next 60 days.

The business, owned by Thomas Lacey, also agreed to not open a similar business in San Francisco for the next five years.

Internet cafes offer slot-machine-style games on a computer, but the difference between these places and a real casino is that no money is exchanged – only points that build up. But once the internet cafe does payout in cash, it becomes illegal gambling and violates state law.

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• Tallahassee police arrested four people on gambling charges and seized cash and equipment in an internet cafe raid. Officers on Tuesday served a search warrant at the Fun Arcade, 1164 Capital.
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Figure 8 Technologies Inc., a software company that supplied the gambling software to Net Stop and has no relation to the Net Stop owners, also agreed to cease providing the software to any establishments in the state of California for the next five years.

The technology company will also pay San Francisco $25,000 and deactivate its software at all establishments where it is in use.

The business opened in late 2012 and with it came a rise in crime in the area, according to the city attorney’s office. The cafe was called a public nuisance in the lawsuit, which was filed in November.

According to the city attorney’s office, there were 202 calls to police in the area from November 2012 through October 2013. In a similar time period the year before there were only two police calls.

The attorney representing the business, John Weston, said Thursday that his client maintains he was fully compliant with all laws about online gaming, and as part of the settlement there was no admission of wrongdoing.

“The operator took very substantial steps when concerns were first aired,” Weston said.

He said his client had made numerous changes to be a better business and neighbor in the community, including adding security guards, reducing the number of computers, and shortening the hours of operation.

Before the settlement was reached, Herrera was seeking to declare Net Stop a public nuisance and order it closed and impose civil penalties.

In a statement today from San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos, whose district includes the Excelsior, he said, “This is a big win for Excelsior residents…people are going to feel safer on the streets.”

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Tallahassee police arrested four people on gambling charges and seized cash and equipment in an internet cafe raid.

Officers on Tuesday served a search warrant at the Fun Arcade, 1164 Capital Circle Southeast. They arrested the on-duty employee and two patrons.

'This is the latest in ongoing efforts to combat these illegal gambling operations in Tallahassee,' TPD said in a news release. 'Investigators opened the inquiry acting on tips from the community that felt these cafes were damaging the quality of life in their neighborhood.'

In the last year, raids have led to more than a dozen arrests at multiple gambling operations

Those arrested were Alaysja Burnley, 22, on charges of maintaining a gambling house, criminal use of personal information and fraudulent use of a credit card; and Catherine Norton, 73, and Verdell Hall, 57, on gambling charges.

Burnley, the cafe employee, had five outstanding warrants for failing to appear in court on petty theft charges. She also was charged with violating her probation.

Norton and Hall were given notices to appear in court rather than taken to jail.

'Landlords and property managers should be aware that it is illegal to knowingly rent or lease property for the purposes of gambling,' the department said. 'TPD is committed to responding to complaints about quality of life issues impacting our residents.'

Gambling arrests in the last year:

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: TPD arrests three people in internet cafe gambling probe