Minnesota orders block of online gambling sites

[The Buzz]

In breaking news, Minnesota's Department of Public Safety has asked 11 Internet service providers to prohibit access to 200 online gambling Web sites.

Casino City has the full press release here.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- The Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED) today announced that it has served written notice to 11 national and regional telephone and Internet service providers (ISPs) instructing them to prohibit access of all Minnesota-based computers to nearly 200 online gambling websites. Online gambling is illegal in all U.S. states.

Written notice was served to AT&T Internet Services, San Antonio; Charter Communications, St. Louis; Comcast Cable, Moorestown, N.J.; Direct TV, Los Angeles; Dish Network, Englewood., Colo.; Embarq and Sprint/Nextel, both of Overland Park, Kan.; Frontier Communications, Stamford, Conn.; Qwest, Denver; Verizon Wireless, Bedminster, N.J.; and Wildblue Communications, Greenwood Village, Colo.

"We are putting site operators and Minnesota online gamblers on notice and in advance," says John Willems, director of AGED. "Disruption of these sites' cash flow will negatively impact their business models. State residents with online escrow accounts should be aware that access to their accounts may be jeopardized and their funds in peril."

Believed the first attempt by a state to employ this federal statute to restrict access to online gambling sites, the letters cites U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1084, (d); notices were delivered Mon., April 27. Congress enacted the statute in 1961 in recognition of the need for states to control illegal gambling activities and granted authority for use of the statue to state law enforcement agencies.

Response from the notified ISPs is expected within two to three weeks, at which time issues of non-compliance will be referred to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Acknowledging the effort as an initial sample, Willems anticipates the program expanding to address thousands of sites, depending on compliance. He notes that the required technology to restrict geographic access to particular sites is a relatively straightforward procedure on the part of service providers.

In the written notices, AGED also provided the sites' telephone numbers and requested access to those numbers by Minnesotans to be prohibited. For more than two decades, telecoms have shut down telephone numbers at the request of law enforcement agencies when believed to be involved in illegal activities, such as sports book-making telephone numbers.

"In Minnesota, and for Minnesotans, the primary issues are legality, state self-governance and accountability," says Willems. "In broader context, the long-running debate on online gambling continues to raise significant issues, including absence of policy and regulation, individual rights, societal impact, international fair-trade practices, and funding for criminal and terrorist organizations."

[Anthony]

That's not good at all

[The Buzz]

The Poker Players Alliance has issued the following statement:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Matt Werden, the Minnesota state director of the Poker Players Alliance, the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide, and more than 21,000 in Minnesota, today issued the following statement following the press announcement by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety that they are attempting to block citizens from accessing any commercial gambling sites, including online poker sites.

“This isn’t simply a heavy-handed tactic by the government; this is a clear misrepresentation of federal law, as well as Minnesota law, used in an unprecedented way to try and censor the Internet. I don’t know what U.S. Code they’re reading, but it is not illegal to play this great American pastime online, and we’re calling their bluff.

“The fact is, online poker is not illegal, it’s not criminal, and it cannot be forcibly blocked by a state authority looking to score some political points. What are they going to do when this fails, ban poker books and burn our players at the stake?

“We see headlines like this coming from communist China but never expect that it could happen here in Minnesota. The good news is groups like the Poker Players Alliance are here to protect the rights of poker players and set the record straight when government reaches too far. But this is more than just protecting poker – this is about keeping the internet free of censorship and ensuring that law abiding citizens can enjoy a game of Texas Hold ‘Em in the comfort of their own home, whether it’s online or with a group of friends.

“The PPA will take any action necessary to make sure our members and the general public are aware of these oppressive and illegal actions, and to make sure the game of poker – in all it’s forms – is protected in the state of Minnesota.”

[pgaming]

this is a clear misrepresentation of federal law, as well as Minnesota law, used in an unprecedented way to try and censor the Internet.

Exactly! IMO Minnesota would be violating First Amendment Rights of their citizens. Both State wide and Federally IMO.

I wonder if Minnesota's Legal System has a clear definition of "Internet".

JMO

greek39

[vinism]

We've done some reporting on this. Here's what we have so far.....

Minnesota orders block of online gambling sites

29 April 2009
By Vin Narayanan

In an effort to block online gambling sites from Minnesota residents, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Alcohol and Gaming Division (AGED) has asked 11 national and regional telephone and Internet Service Providers to prohibit Minnesota-based computers from accessing nearly 200 online gaming sites.


In an announcement made Wednesday, the AGED said written notification of this request has been served to AT&T Internet Services, Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, Direct TV, Dish Network, Embarq, Sprint/Nextel, Frontier Communications, Qwest, Verizon Wireless and Wildblue Communications on Monday.


The AGED says the Wire Act of 1961 gives Minnesota law enforcement agencies the authority to make this request, and that ISPs will be given two to three weeks to respond. Any non-compliance will be reported to the Federal Communications Commission.


"The statute we're citing is civil," AGED Director John Willems told the GPWA. "We're not seeking to criminalize (online gambling). We're not seeking to prevent Internet gambling sites from doing their business where it's lawful -- we're just seeking to prevent them from doing it in Minnesota where it's unlawful. I'm only concerned about the state of Minnesota."


Williams also said that only sites where the actual betting took place would be blocked and that sites that simply advertise their services would not be affected.


When asked why AGED was seeking to block online gambling sites from Minnesotans, Willems acknowledged that there was no great public push for this move and said this was a natural evolution of Minnesota's belief that Internet gambling is illegal.


"Internet gambling is unlawful in Minnesota," he said. "So how do you deal with activity within the confines of our jurisdiction while understanding there's a global aspect to this?

"As the industry changed and phone companies became ISPs, and ISPs became phone companies it reached a point in time where we realized that a reasonable reading of the statute applied. Our goal is not to hurt the operators in their lawful operations. And the technology has grown to the point where it's a fairly straight forward process."

While the technology might be relatively straight forward, the legal underpinnings of Minnesota's effort aren't necessarily that cut and dry, says gaming law attorney Clarke Walton.


"They're probably not within their rights based on decisions that have said the Wire Act applies only to sports betting and not other casino games like slot machines and certainly not poker," said Walton, who is based in Las Vegas.


The Poker Player's Alliance also issued a vehement challenge to the legality of AGED's actions.


"This isn't simply a heavy-handed tactic by the government," said Matt Werden, the Minnesota state director of the Poker Players Alliance. "This is a clear misrepresentation of federal law, as well as Minnesota law, used in an unprecedented way to try and censor the Internet. I don't know what U.S. Code they're reading, but it is not illegal to play this great American pastime online, and we're calling their bluff.


"The fact is, online poker is not illegal, it's not criminal, and it cannot be forcibly blocked by a state authority looking to score some political points. What are they going to do when this fails, ban poker books and burn our players at the stake?"

[vinism]

I spoke with another attorney today outside the gaming sphere and he offered an interesting take on this which I've broken out here....

AGED's actions could face some tough legal sledding because it is citing a section of the Wire Act that requires only "common carriers" to comply with government requests to block services.


And that's where AGED will likely run into trouble, said John Morris, general counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington.

"The term common carrier is a specific legal term, and ISPs aren't common carriers," Morris told Casino City. "Even though local telephone companies are common carriers, and even though they have another line of business to provide ISP services, you can't just say a regulation that applies to common carriers applies to other aspects of the business a common carrier might have."

Morris also said the problems Minnesota's case go beyond the common carrier issues.

"Even if you got over the common carrier problem and magically edited those words out of the statute and replaced them with ISP, even if you hypothesized that, what Minnesota is doing still fails, because it fundamentally misinterprets the statute.

"The statute is designed to stop a common carrier from providing a specific service to someone running a gambling operation, like providing a phone line to gambling operation. It presumes a subscriber relationship between the common carrier and the person running the gambling service.

"That's not at all present here. The ISPs have no relationship with the gambling entity."

[universal4]

I wonder if Minnesota already knew it was likely going to fail...

More posturing I'd say....

Rick
Universal4

[raphnix]

I think the will sure lose a lot of tax collection from just releasing that announcement.