Minnesota flexing it’s muscles against Internet gaming and casino sites

Strangely at a time when there is much talk of the U.S. authorities considering relaxing their ban on internet gambling there has been details released from the Minnesota Department of Public safety to internet service providers (ISP) of almost 200 sites that must be blacklisted. The authorities in Minnesota want the ISP’s to block all internet gaming sites on the list and surprisingly there are some pretty big UK gaming names on there. Amongst an array of gaming sites that the Minnesota authorities want blocked they have included respectable longstanding British gambling companies like William Hill Casino, Victor Chandler’s Casino and Ladbrokes Casino.

A strongly worded letter advising of the possible legal implications of breaching the 1961 Wire Act and allowing continued access to the sites has now been received by some of the biggest internet service providers. One of the most alarming aspects to the communication and blacklist is that many of those included do not accept U.S. players such as Party Casino, Ladbrokes Casino and William Hill Casino and yet some big names that do allow U.S. players have been completely omitted including the likes of PokerStars, UltimateBet and Absolute Poker.

John Willems the Director of Department of Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED) has stated in response to the surprise inclusions and omissions that the list was a random ‘snapshot’ of those on the internet at the time the list was prepared, Mr Willems does not see the inclusion of big UK internet gambling sites who do not allow U.S. players as any problem stating “if they don’t accept American players” then “the action won’t hurt those sites”.

In response to the blacklist and letter to ISP’s and the statement by John Willems, the current chairman of The Interactive Media and Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA Joe Brennan Jr., put a very different slant on the story, he asserted “To propose censoring Minnesota residents' Web access and not to know which sites are even in the U.S. market makes me wonder just how seriously the DPS is taking this action. It comes off as a half-baked attempt at intimidation rather than thoughtful enforcement."