COLUMBUS, Ohio – Opponents of a state law that effectively bans storefront sweepstakes parlors known as internet cafes say they’ve dropped their effort to place a repeal request on next year’s ballot.
The Committee to Protect Ohio Jobs said Thursday it was unable to collect the needed signatures to put the issue on the November 2014 ballot.
The group needed to submit roughly 71,000 additional valid signatures by Thursday to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted after falling short last month.
“This has been a complex issue since House Republicans introduced legislation on this during the last General Assembly…The law is now clear and I am grateful that we can put this issue to rest” House Speaker Pro Tempore Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said in a statement issued by his office.
The committee said in a statement that it was the first to operate under Ohio’s new, more stringent signature gathering rules and that the restrictions hampered its effort.
Without the needed signatures, the ban has gone into effect.