Casino City Sues US DOJ for Right to Advertise Online Gaming

[MichaelCorfman]

I want to let you all know that in the next hour or two we are filing suit against the United States Department of Justice to establish our First Amendment right to advertise online casinos and sports books. I figure Ashcroft deserves a bad day now and then.

For the time being this should be kept secret within the GPWA because the action has not yet been filed, and because it is not yet public knowledge. Just wanted to give all of you an early heads-up.

We are still working to build a small website about the action, which will hopefully be ready so we can let others know shortly after we file the action. In the meantime, a copy of the action, and information about our lawyers is available on the web now, but only for those who know where to look. The URL is Online.CasinoCity.com/FirstAmendment.

Of particular note is the fact that the attorney representing us in court is the same lawyer that successfully represented President George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential litigation. How's this for a headline: "President Bush's Lawyer Sues Ashcroft for Right to Advertise Online Gaming."

Michael

[chalkoutline]

Wow a bold move Michael. Good luck with it, I hope it goes well.

[Amateur]

I'm behind you all the way, Michael!! I'd do it myself, if I could.

If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.

[Doolally]

Excellent!!! You go for it!

This has brightened up my day no end. I'm behind you 100% - it's about time someone met things head on.

When your action is won, people will start looking at actual laws rather than running scared whenever someone in Govt. blows their nose.

[VPJunkie]

Wow! I wondered when this would happen!?! I'm glad it's you, and hope you'll share all the details with us after you get filed.

[OnlineCasino-Guide.com]

This is great, Give 'Em Hell!!!

Let us know when that site is live, I'll be happy to link to you as I'm sure most of us would.

Finally, as Amateur said, if there's anything I can do to help let us know!

[MichaelCorfman]

We have confirmation that the action has been filed, so this is now a matter of public record. Everyone feel free to shout it from the rooftop, and to link to Online.CasinoCity.com/FirstAmendment to let the world know.

Michael

[spinoza]

Fantastic news. Hope the ruling will be positive. Any idea about how long it will take?

[DVS007]

Michael... What can I say - your my idol!

Im behind you 110%. Let me know if there is anything you need.

[OBR21]

We are all behind you.

[VPJunkie]

Michael, you're working with Pat O'Brien, right? Can you give us the details of this, please?

[MrYook]

Thank you for taking on this issue. I'm behind you
100% and if their is anything I can do, let me know.

[DVS007]

Looks like you did your homework! Great pick!

xhttp://www.gtlaw.com/biographies/biography.asp?id=1026

[MichaelCorfman]

Cyn at al:

All the details about the lawyers are on the website Online.CasinoCity.com/FirstAmendment. I work most closely with Pat O'Brien on a day to day basis, but it is Barry Richard who is heading up the litigation team. The lawyers page on our first amendment website has links to the detail pages with more background on each of the lawyers on the law firms website.

We are updating that website by the moment, and it will always have the most current information possible - we can only update things so fast.

Michael

[TheCPA]

This is just totally awesome!
There are no words to express my sentiments on this.

Good luck. It's a good case that NEEDS to be won for ALL OF US.
Thanks for having the guts to do what the big companies should have done. Give em hell!

[VPJunkie]

Ok, well I'll add a few tidbits here - hope you don't mind. I've known this lawsuit was pending since last December when Pat called me for some information.

First, this lawsuit is funded by the casino side of the industry, but they needed a complainant for it and had a hard time finding someone willing to do it. Michael has gone out on a limb and put himself and his company in the public/government eye by doing this, and is most definitely to be applauded for having the courage to do this! I believe everyone here is behind you on this - please let us know if we can do anything to help, ok?

Second, I see they filed it in Louisiana! For those of you who don't know, a Federal Judge in the LA district actually already upheld our First Amendment rights in this area on a narrower, smaller issue about 5 years ago, but it wasn't a wide-ranging enough ruling.

Missouri's District is the most conservative, which is why that's where Ashcroft & Spitzer have filed their motions. This law firm was looking at California's or Louisiana's Districts, because they're much more liberal and sympathetic to Constitutional rights.

This is also excellent timing, given the upcoming election and the fact that Bush is weakening in the polls with his ultra conservative position.

This is a very well thought out and well planned lawsuit being handled by some very competent attorneys and staff, and I have every reason to believe it'll be successful.

[bigbcasinos]

Ok

I am about a million miles away in South Africa and would write a terrible commentary about this. If someone makes some banners calling for support here though I will front page them.

If there is anything I can do, I have 20 websites at your disposal Michael.

[MichaelCorfman]

In terms of funding, it is not correct to say the action was done based on funding from the casino industry. In fact, there are players in the casino industry that knew about this action before it was filed who wanted to contribute funding if sports betting was dropped from the action. As filed the complaint we brought fights for first amendment rights for both casinos and sportsbooks even though there are some additional legal complications associated with sportsbooks. Certainly a case like this is not one we can afford all by our lonesome, but unfortunately, it is also not appropriate for me to comment on how the action is being funded since that would violate commitments I have made to others. I would greatly appreciate it if discussion or speculation of funding was curtailed. I'd love to share details, but infortunately it is not a wise course of action. There is a risk that if any funding information was leaked that some way would be found to retaliate against others, and I am bound and determined that not happen.

In terms of Louisiana law, there are definitely benefits, and there are definite reasons that we formed a subsidiary coporation domiciled in Louisiana. Louisiana has state laws that stipulate that serving advertisements for online gaming on the web is legal in the state. Thus the servers we use to serve banner advertisements for online casinos are located in Louisiana. It is also true that the 5th circuit court, which has jurisdiction in Louisiana has specifically ruled that the wire act does not apply to online casino gaming and that such gaming is not contrary to Federal law. This forms a favorable legal backdrop both for our operations and for the First Amendment lawsuit.

[VPJunkie]

Oh, so sorry, Michael... I was using "casino" in the generic, all inclusive, term, as in "online gambling" industry. I have no idea "who" as I never asked, so nothing to worry about there.

[MichaelCorfman]

Cyn, no need to be sorry! This is just an area where it is not appopriate for me to discuss details with anyone. I think it is probably just about the only area where I feel constrained in terms of telling all. That's one of the very nice things about this case. Our objectives are completely consistent with getting the word out to as many people as possible.

For those of you who are interested in the publicity process, this is what we have done thusfar on that front:

1. We arranged in advance for the River City Group to be the first to publish the story. As part of this agreement, they e-mailed their whole
database as soon as it was ok for the action to become public.

2. Cecile Park publishing also prepared a story, and released it to their e-mail subscriber base (they publish the World Online Gaming Law Report).

3. We sent out the complete story as a press release on prnewswire. This results many websites picking up the press release.

4. We posted the story on CasinoCityTimes.com. A large number of news websites pick up stories we publish there.

5. We are sending out a Breaking News Alert to over 1,800 reporters that specialize in gaming, internet, and general business news and that work for TV and radio stations as well as newspapers, magazines, and other types of media outlets. This should result in lots of other articles over the next few days.

Our goal is to spread the word everywhere. They theory is that widespread news that Ashcroft is being challenged will dimish his success with threats.

Michael