Minnesota Orders ISPs to Block Online Gambling Sites

May 01, 2009 | News Category: Gaming Law

0 Comments The state of Minnesota is trying to take things into its own hands as far as censoring Internet gambling goes. The Minnesota Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division's officials have ordered Internet service providers to block nearly 200 Internet gambling websites.

The Division have explained that the authority for their actions comes from actual laws and statutes, supposedly basing their decision to prevent Minnesota residents from accessing Internet casinos, on the federal Wire Act of 1961. Federal courts, however, have already ruled that the Wire Act does not pertain to online casinos, and only to sports betting sites. Minnesota does not seem to be bothered by the uncertain legal position they find themselves in.

Eight Internet service providers, including AT&T and Comcast have been told that they need to respond to the website blocking request over the next two to three weeks. At this time, there have been no comments from any of the Internet Service Providers (ISP).

ISPs have been told that if they do not comply with the online casino censorship, they will be referred for disciplinary action to the Federal Communications Commission.

There is, however, much confusion over whether the Federal Communications Commission would in fact discipline those ISPs that do not comply, since their website specifically states that they have no regulatory authority over ISPs or the Internet. In fact, the Federal Communications Commission website refers all Internet complainants to the Federal Trade Commission, which handles all charges that are brought in connection with online fraud.

The Federal Trade Commission website gives Internet users advice on how to safeguard themselves online, and also helps users to filter websites they would prefer not to see on their personal computers should they so wish. The site also reviews laws about privacy and the protection of personal information. Nowhere on the Federal Trade Commission's site does it mention that they enforce government censorship, which means that they would not be involved in blocking online gambling sites.

Regulators are also threatening online gamblers to refrain from making any more deposits on the casino sites in question, warning them that they could lose their deposited money when all access to their online casino accounts is blocked, and they are therefore unable to retrieve their deposits.

One does wonder why states like Minnesota and Kentucky do not pass laws connected to online gambling, and instead rely on laws to back them up that are not really applicable. If enough legislators were really interested in banning online gambling, they would surely try to legislate in this regard.

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