PPA -- Minnesota Government Backs Off Poker CensorshipPoker Players Alliance Claims Victory in Online Poker Battle |
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The PPA announced on Thursday that the Department of Public Safety of Minnesota was backing off its initial order to try to ban Internet service providers from allowing their customers to access all gambling sites, including poker sites.
“Minnesota poker players made our voices heard, the state listened and ended its ill-advised and improper attempt to circumvent the rights of Minnesota poker players,” said Matthew Werden, the Minnesota state director of the PPA.
However, not everyone is declaring victory just yet.
Joe Brennan, Jr., the chairman of the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA), cautioned people from believing this was over in a press release yesterday.
“While we cannot speak to whatever information other organizations or officials are basing their own public statements, it is the position of iMEGA, the Minnesota attorney-general, and the Department of Public Safety that no settlement agreement exists at this time, and that statements of other parties outside of the negotiation are speculative and premature,” said Brennan.
“However, it is our hope that this matter may be resolved as quickly as possible, so that Minnesota residents may rest easy and feel no threat of censorship of their Internet service.”
Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety made news at the end of April when its Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division’s director John Willems announced that the state was ordering ISPs to block all gambling and poker sites for all Minnesota-based computers.
“We are putting site operators and Minnesota online gamblers on notice and in advance,” Willems said at the time. “State residents with online escrow accounts should be aware that access to their accounts may be jeopardized and their funds in peril.”
Willems argued that since there wasn’t a law that authorizes online gaming, it was therefore illegal.
The PPA immediately took up the fight, as did iMEGA and Minnesota state representative Pat Garofalo.
The PPA sent out emails and activated its membership, iMega filed a lawsuit against Willems, and Rep. Garofalo introduced a bill that would’ve prevented the state from carrying out its order.
“In the spirit of cooperation, and in recognition of the rescission of these notices, I am more than happy to withdraw my bill and in its place sponsor a discussion aimed at establishing a framework for regulating and licensing the online gaming industry,” Garofalo said this week.
“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,” said Werden.
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