Are you one of the 24,000 online poker players missing their cash outs? Well the US Government has your money, and they’re laughing all the way to the bank! Get the scoop on this story, plus the state of Minnesota comes to a decision in their fight to ban internet gambling within it’s borders.
While online poker forces and their internet freedom allies continue to fight a war of attrition in Kentucky, principals in Minnesota have not just called a cease-fire — the State halting efforts to force telecom companies to block citizen access to a random assortment of gambling-ish sites — but also the potential adversaries, who met face-to-face in St. Paul last week, seem to be forming a truce, looking for ways they can work together to regulate/tax online poker, etc. within Minnesota borders:
Minn. regulators drop bid to block online gambling [Associated Press via @ppapoker]
“We have not folded our hand,” said Andy Skoogman, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, where gambling regulators are housed. He said he expects new strategies for regulating Internet gambling to emerge.
“The action raised awareness of the broader issue about who is policing the Internet and protecting the consumer,” he said. “At this point, we don’t feel there is anybody. This is an issue that every state is going to face sooner rather than later.”
On Thursday, The Minnesota Department of Public Safety decided it was dropping its attempt to force ISPs to block several online gambling sites to Minnesota residents. The PPA press release can be found below.
UPDATE: Not so fast, my friend. Apparently, the Minnesota DPS hasn’t officially dropped its effort, but its expected to happen by early next week, stay tuned for further updates.
Barney Frank has finally debuted his bill to Repeal the UIGEA and set-up a regulatory frame work for the online gambling industry in the United States! Also, industry news from Minnesota, Illinois, and the biggest jackass in the industry!
From the PPA:
Hi all,
Texas Gov. Perry is blocking the vote on HB222 (the bill that legalized land-based poker in Texas). Let’s all amp up the pressure!
Contact info:
Phone: (800) 252-9600
Twitter: @GovernorPerryI believe we should hit with calls and Twitters. This was effective at getting us heard in Minn., so let’s try it here. I wrote up some Tweets to Twitter. It takes just seconds to send these out, so let’s all pitch in!
Click here to send Tweet #1: RT @PPApoker: PLZ tell TX @GovernorPerry at (800) 252-9600 to stop blocking a vote on HB 222, a bill that allows poker in Texas. PLS RT!”
Click here to send Tweet #2: “RT @PPApoker: PLZ tell TX @GovernorPerry at (800) 252-9600 that poker is a game of skill that should be legal in Texas. PLS RT.”
Also, if Perry follows you on Twitter, you can send him a direct message:
Click here to send the direct message: “D GovernorPerry: Texas Hold’em is a game of skill that should be legal in Texas. Can you end your HB222 vote block? THX! http://is.gd/uNvv”
I posted this to P5s at http://www.pocketfives.com/poker-forums/7/new-letter-to-congress-please-send-4240404 and http://www.pocketfives.com/poker-forums/8/texas-poker-legalization-people-living-in-texas-plz-read-4204172 . If you get a chance, please consider posting a message of encouragement there to get others to pitch in. After all, 2+2 responded to this by giving me a warning; P5s responded by stickying my thread for the day (I didn’t ask them to).
Thanks!
Rich
Interesting article out of Minnesota about how the proposed Berlin Firewall legislation to stop online gambling would force a group of nice young, responsible internet pros (Mike Schneider is the name I recognized) out of their home state. I had heard from our friends at Minnesota Poker Magazine that Minnesota was a mini poker hotspot right now, following in the footsteps of Florida, Oklahoma, and other states that have recently embraced the game.
What I didn’t know before reading the above article is that Minnesotan’s are particularly deft at limit hold’em, apparently because they don’t have no-limit there (yet). Makes sense … when I first met Schneider, it was at the PartyPoker Million, where he won $1 million in what was at the time (2006) one of the biggest live limit tournaments in the world. And semi-verifying this claim … if you look at all the results for the 2008 WSOP, Minnesotans made two final tables, and ideed, one of them was in a limit shootout event.
So duly noted … Minnesota is a limit state. FYI to everyone else.
The Minnesota Star Tribune has an article on a Republican’s legislation Monday to bar the state’s Department of Public Safety from attempting to block access to 200 online gambling sites without legislative approval.
Rep. Pat Garofolo from Farmington offered the following:
The state of Minnesota has decided to use the 1961 Federal Wire Act to target the online gaming industry, at the very same time Representative Barney Frank has decided to target the UIGEA for repeal! All this and a friendly warning for players and webmasters.
The 200 companies that are to supposed to be blocked by 11 ISPs to Minnesota residents has now been published by IMEGA, which can be found here on their site . The list of 200 companies is an eclectic list of sites, because it was chosen randomly. While sites like Bodog and Full Tilt Poker are on the list, there are a few notable omissions: Absolute Poker, PokerStars, and Ultimate Bet. The list also contains sites that don’t take US customers (BetFred, Everest Poker, Interops, William Hill, among others).
This just in, from the PPA:
Poker Players Alliance Statement on Minnesota Department of
Public Safety’s Announcement to Censor Online PokerWashington, DC (April 29, 2009) – Matt Werden, the Minnesota state director of the Poker Players Alliance, the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide, and more than 21,000 in Minnesota, today issued the following statement following the press announcement by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety that they are attempting to block citizens from accessing any commercial gambling sites, including online poker sites.
“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 Minneapolis Star-Tribune is reporting that the Minnesota Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division, part of the state’s Department of Public Safety, has sent a letter to 11 regional and national ISPs asking them to block Minnesota computers from over 200 gambling sites. State officials believe they’re the first state to restrict access to online gambling sites. However, Kentucky may want to have a few words with you, Minnesota. The DPS press release is as follows:
