Minnesota Blocks 200 Gambling Sites

Following on the heels of the Kentucky Supreme Court, Minnesota has followed suit and sought the blocking of 200 internet gambling sites in the state.

Written notices have been sent to AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Direct TV, Dish Network, Embarq, Sprint, Frontier Communications, Qwest, Verizon, and Wildblue Communications to start blocking the domains to state residents.

John Willems, director of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Agency said in a press release:

“We are putting site operators and Minnesota online gamblers on notice and in advance. 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.”

The letters to ISPs were delivered on Monday and the companies have “two to three” weeks to respond. Then, the Department of Public Safety has pledged to take the complaint to the Federal Communications Commission. In addition to the 200 sites whose access may be at risk in the immediate future, the Division expects further expansion of the list.
Unlike in Kentucky however, where the case has gone to the high court as the state tries to seize the websites, in Minnesota they want to merely block access.

The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) has already dispatched a legal team specializing in First Amendment rights to Minnesota to combat the Department of Public Safety citing, “we are somewhat troubled by the shaky legal premise on which Minnesota has based this order.
They are asserting that there is some blanket Federal prohibition against gambling on the internet, when in fact none exists. In a similar fashion to Kentucky, you have the aggressor citing assertions that are not supported by the laws that are on the books.”

Standing strong next to iMEGA will be the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). Matt Werden, the Minnesota spokesman for the PPA commented in a press release, “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 online poker battleground has drawn in another combatant in Minnesota. The dispute is a new one and where it will lead for the online gamblers of Minnesota and the online game at large will be decided in the next few weeks.

The list containing the 200 Internet gambling domains in question can be found here.