AKRON, Ohio -- Bingo parlors operate all over northeast Ohio, but not all of them are legal.

The city prosecutor in Akron is hoping for new legislation to curb a problem that is apparently getting out of control, reported NewsChannel5's Pete Kenworthy.

There are more than 50 gaming houses in Akron and they are all operating under the guise of legitimate businesses, prosecutors said.

Police said people would come into a storefront on Home Avenue, where they would buy phone cards that were also loaded with credits to play video slots.

Akron police went undercover and paid $20 and won $123.

A week later, the business was raided and its owner, Cindy Groff, has pleaded guilty to operating a gambling house.

"This business, if they were truly selling phone cards, could have stopped their sweepstakes and continued to sell phone cards. It's the only product they had in the store," said Akron prosecutor Doug Powley.

"We do receive from time to time, a number of complaints on these places and basically what we get are calls from mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, grandchildren about the amount of time and money they have spent there and some cases it's thousands of dollars a week," said Lt. Terry Pasko, of the Akron police.

The city prosecutor said that gaming parlors can make $20,000 a week. His plan is to promote legislation to require licensing which would give him another avenue to prosecute illegal gaming parlors.

"This is all a scam, it's a front. The whole thing is a scheme to get people to come in, give their money and think that they're playing a slot machine. Some people are going to win some money, some aren't," said Powley.

The city prosecutor's plan is to make sure that nobody is winning any money or making money through illegal gaming.

His though on requiring licenses for gaming parlors would be that those places would then be operating without licenses, and make it easier for police to crack down on them.