Cash-back and Call Girls, Right Here in Iowa
Nathan Greene
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By Emily Geiger
I just read an article about how some Touchplay-esque game machines are receiving complaints here in Iowa. Apparently, these machines are found in bars. You have to insert cash to play a “game,” and then, depending on your game performance, you get a certain number of tickets, tokens, or vouchers, which you can redeem for food or drinks at the establishment you’re at. (Think Chuck E. Cheese for grown-ups.) The problem is, adults want to get their money’s worth, and often, the machine will spit out a voucher for $5, when the customer only wants a $3 beer. Then the customer often asks for a cash refund of the extra $2 they are owed.
The problem is, if the bar gives them the cash refund, that’s illegal. Any bar that does that can have its liquor license suspended for two weeks. The article cites numerous examples bars and bar employees being busted in sting operations set up by DCI agents.
The funny thing is, right before this article, I’d just read another from the Register’s John Carlson, who talked about his research on high-priced, web-based prostitutes in light of the Eliot Spitzer scandal. Carlson had found that law enforcement in Iowa doesn’t spend much time investigating web-based prostitution because they just “do not have much time to devote” to it. Maybe because they’re too busy yanking liquor licenses from bars for giving $2 cash refunds.
Would it be too much to hope for that the fuzz might learn to prioritize?
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