The Ohio attorney general’s office will investigate whether an Ameritech sales promotion for pay phone users in Milwaukee and other Midwest cities is legal. A player in a game called “That’s Entertainment” deposits a quarter in a pay phone and dials 621-COIN. A recorded message advises whether the player has won a prize. Ameritech expects to award 1,002 prizes-about 10 a day each in Columbus, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit. A spokesman for Atty. Gen. Betty Montgomery said, “State law does not allow a corporation to have a sweepstakes that results in a profit. It would be a first-degree misdemeanor; it would be illegal gambling.” Ameritech also is contributing $15,000 to the National Crime Prevention Program, but the spokesman says it is illegal for a business corporation to donate gambling profits to a charity.
