Attorney General Martha Coakley, after months of silence on the issue, today filed emergency regulations banning what she called illegal gambling at cyber cafes and phone card terminals across the state.

“The goal of these regulations is to protect consumers,” Coakley said in a statement. “These cyber cafes are really cyber scams with no posted odds, minimum odds, or guarantee of payouts for patrons. With these regulations, we are making clear that such gambling operations at cyber cafes and phone card video gaming terminals are illegal.”

The legality of the operations has always been murky, but some courts have held that they are legal as long as they offer the opportunity to play for free. Coakley may be worried about that, since she said she also plans to push for legislation on Beacon Hill that would outlaw the machines.

CommonWealth reported on the spread of phone card machines last August and has another story in its upcoming issue on how the Lottery is battling against the machines. The new issue comes out Tuesday, but click here to read the story.