The Minnesota state’s Department of Public Safety last week penned a letter to 11 telephone and Internet service providers asking them to block access to 200 gambling Web sites and their phone numbers because they violate a 1961 law known as the Wire Act.
“We are putting site operators and Minnesota online gamblers on notice and in advance,” John Willems, director of the department’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED), said in a statement. “Disruption of these sites’ cash flow will negatively impact their business models. State residents with online escrow accounts should be aware that access to their accounts may be jeopardized and their funds in peril.”
Notices were sent to: Charter Communications, Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network, Embarq, Qwest Communications, Sprint/Nextel, Verizon Wireless, Frontier Communications, AT&T, and Wildblue Communications.
Comcast and Qwest said they are reviewing the letter, but Sprint said it has not yet received it. Other providers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PCMag.com contacted a handful of the 200 gambling sites on the AGED list, including Online Casino Dollar, Party Gaming, and Atlantic Vegas Casino, but did not receive a response.
The non-profit Poker Players Alliance, however, accused AGED of misrepresenting federal law.”We see headlines like this coming from communist China, but never expect that it could happen here in Minnesota,” Matt Werden, the Minnesota state director for the alliance, said in a statement. “This is about keeping the Internet free of censorship and ensuring that law abiding citizens can enjoy a game of Texas Hold ‘Em in the comfort of their own homes, whether it’s online or with a group of friends.”
The letters to the service providers did not specify this, but Willems said he expects responses within two to three weeks. AGED will forward the names of those providers that do not respond to the Federal Communications Commission.The 200 Web sites listed by AGED is just an “initial sample” and Willems expects to expand the effort to thousands of Web sites, depending on compliance, according to a press release.
The department also wants Minnesotans banned from contacting the gambling sites via telephones. “For more than two decades, telecoms have shut down telephone numbers at the request of law enforcement agencies when believed to be involved in illegal activities, such as sports book-making telephone numbers,” according to AGED.
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