''For four years, we've been fighting this fight,'' Fontaine said, standing next to the rows of electronic games at Johnny's Rec Room in Pompano Beach. ``But this is the most well-orchestrated.''

As Florida continues its drive toward more gambling, adult arcades and other so-called gray market games are coming under increased scrutiny by lawmakers trying to draw a line between illegal gambling and entertainment permitted by law.

They have a lot to consider. The Florida gambling scene has changed dramatically in recent months. Las Vegas-style slot machines were approved in Miami-Dade County. The same type of slots are now spinning at the Seminole Tribe's seven casinos, and blackjack is next. And there's a Senate proposal that would expand slots -- the less popular bingo-style machines -- to 20 more horse and dog tracks and jai-alai frontons across the state.

There are other arcade-related concerns, too: A new kind of electronic game room called a sweepstakes arcade, or Internet arcade, began proliferating rapidly about 1 ½ years ago, according to state regulatory officials. The businesses typically sell phone cards that come with sweepstakes entries. Customers can enter the numbers into desktop computers on-site to determine whether they win prizes.

And in Hialeah, Mayor Julio Robaina has begun an initiative to crack down on the illegal use of electronic games -- he says there are about 1,000 in the city -- that sometimes are used for gambling.

''This is one of those issues that nobody wants to touch, nobody wants to talk about, nobody wants to face,'' Robaina said.

Technology has created some of the problems. Slot machines have gone from ''one-armed bandits'' to digital devices with electronic display screens that mimic the old spinning reels. And the versions made for ''amusement'' look nearly identical to those made for gambling.

''It's so gray these days. We're trying to make it a little more black and white,'' said Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a Miami Republican who chairs the House Business Regulation Committee. ``We're trying to protect people.''

Florida's adult arcades operate under the ''Chuck E. Cheese exemption'' in state gambling laws. It deems arcades legal so long as the games require some skill and do not allow players to redeem points for money or alcohol.

Adult arcades like Fontaine's use video terminals with electronic displays that look like today's slot machines -- but instead of cash jackpots, winners get gift cards or additional points for play.

Arcade operators also say their games require skill to play, while regular slot machines are purely games of chance. With arcade games, players punch a button to stop the reels. They can choose to stop some reels and let others continue in hopes of lining up a winning combination.

Lopez-Cantera's committee, along with the Senate Regulated Industries Committee, plans to push for more regulation, especially when it comes to adult arcades.

''They are unregulated. No government agency regulates the payout structure. They're just taxed under the sales tax. Law enforcement is very frustrated with this particular industry,'' Lopez-Cantera said.

His committee bill would limit prizes to a $5 value, end the use of gift cards as awards and change the definition of permissible games in a way that arcade advocates say would put them out of business.

The Senate may offer

its own arcade regulatory bill. Regulated Industries chairman Dennis Jones, a Seminole Republican, called the arcades ``nothing more than slot machine barns.''

The state-regulated Broward casinos are overseen by state law enforcement and pay 50 percent of revenues to the state, he noted. The arcades do neither.

'There has to be some level of fairness to this. If you're saying electronic gaming has to be strictly regulated and licensed and you have another part of `gray industry' with no oversight, no licensing fee, nothing to protect the public -- it just seems an area we ought to be looking at,'' Jones said.

Frank Mirabella, lobbyist for the Florida Arcade and Bingo Association, which represents about 30 arcades, including Fontaine's, says the reason for the new interest in cracking down isn't consumer protection -- it's competition. He said the Broward slots are worried that the arcades siphon off business, an issue that has become more pressing since the Seminole Tribe's Hard Rock Casino started offering the same kind of slots as the tracks.

''They got whooped by the Seminoles and now they want to shut down the arcades,'' Mirabella said.

Dan Adkins, president of Mardi Gras Racetrack and Gaming Center in Hallandale Beach, said he had no role in the latest proposal, but he does think the arcades should be closed.

``They're running an illegal slot operation, clearly. But I'm not trying to push anyone out of business. . . . I'd like to see the criminal law stiffen up, so the law has teeth,

so they can shut them down,'' he said.

He said elderly people who play the games might not realize that the machines aren't regulated like regular slot machines. Fontaine has said her machines, which she leases, are programmed with a 65 percent payout rate, far less than the state-required 85 percent.

''Sometimes you have to protect people from themselves,'' Adkins said.

He's likely to get quite a fight from the elderly patrons of Johnny's Rec Room who see the place as inexpensive and safe fun for the disabled and those on a fixed income.

''They give you two meals a day, snacks all day long, beverages of all kinds, free all day long,'' said ''Sporty Morty'' Brill, 77, a Tamarac resident. ``And what you have here is companionship.''

Michelle Taber of Coconut Creek, who faithfully plays the Triple Jack game at Johnnny's, believes arcades offer a valuable social service.

Patrons ''come here with their walkers and the canes and their aides and oxygen tanks and then you have the workers that help them,'' she said. ``They have a little breakfast, they put a few dollars in the machines, they have lunch. They get together -- it's like a family.''