Minnesota to Block Online Gambling, Poker Players Alliance Blasts Move

A division of the U.S. state of Minnesota's Department of Public Safety (that enforces gambling and alcohol laws) announced Wednesday that it has taken steps to block online gambling to residents in the Land of 1,000 Lakes. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) was quick with a reply to defend poker players' rights.

Citing a 1961 federal anti-gambling law, the state's Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division claims that all online gambling conducted within state borders is illegal, even if the games are hosted outside the United States. The division says it has instructed 11 national and regional telephone and Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access by all Minnesota-based computers to nearly 200 gambling websites.

Written notices from Willems' division were served Monday to AT&T Internet Services, Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, DirecTV, Dish Network, Embarq and Sprint/Nextel, Frontier Communications, Qwest, Verizon Wireless and Wildblue Communications.

Representatives of Qwest, Comcast and AT&T said they were studying the written notice from Minnesota and had no comment yet.

"We are putting site operators and Minnesota online gamblers on notice and in advance," John Willems, director of the state's Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division was quoted as saying, in a StarTribune article about the block. "State residents with online escrow accounts should be aware that access to their accounts may be jeopardized and their funds in peril."

LEGAL EXPERTS DOUBT STATE'S LEGAL STANDING

But the same article quoted several Twin Cities attorneys specializing in Internet law who questioned whether the laws being cited could be used to block Internet gambling.

Referring to the 1961 federal law being cited, David Axtell, an attorney at Leonard Street and Deinard in Minneapolis said, "This is an old law put in place before the Internet, and there may be an argument that it doesn't cover Internet service providers."

Michael Fleming, an attorney with Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren in Bloomington, noted that Minnesota's anti-gambling law doesn't explicitly forbid Internet gambling, but state officials have interpreted it to mean that games offered over the Internet to Minnesota users fall under Minnesota gambling laws.

Fleming said The legal theory is that "the Internet carries you into the state."

PPA DEFENDS RIGHT TO PLAY ONLINE POKER

Matt Werden, Minnesota director of the leading poker grassroots advocacy group, the Poker Players Alliance, issued a press release saying that the state's effort "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," he added. "We see headlines like this coming from communist China but never expect that it could happen here in Minnesota."

Werden closed his release saying, "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."