iGaming - The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) announced today that a settlement agreement has been reached with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) regarding the DPG’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division`s highly-controversial move seeking to order eleven internet service providers to block access by Minnesotans to some 200 online gaming websites. [iMEGA Press Release]
On April 27, 2009, notice letters citing as authority provisions of the 1961 Wire Act were sent by the DPS to eleven ISPs within the United States, demanding that the service providers block access by Minnesotans to a specified blacklist of online gambling websites. The recipients of the notice included AT&T, Comcast, DirecTV, Sprint/Nextel, and Verizon.
The contents of the broadly-cast list baffled many in the igaming sector, and identified many of the sectors' largest operators, including Richard Branson's Virgin Gaming, William Hill, Party Poker, Full Tilt Poker, BetUS, Ladbrokes, Golden Palace Casino, and Bodog US. The list (which represented, according to the DPS Director John Willems, only “an initial sample” that would likely be extended to cover up to a thousand sites) appeared to draw no distinctions between sites that did or did not already affirmatively block US players, nor between sportsbooks, poker-only sites, or casinos.
On May 4, Republican Representative Pat Garofalo of Farmington, Minnesota, introduced legislation that would bar the Department of Public Safety`s actions, stating that "demanding that a private-sector Internet service provider block access to websites is not a proper function of our state government."
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On May 6, 2009 the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA), an industry association, filed an action against John Willems in his official capacity as Director of the DPS, challenging the DPS authority to take such actions, including arguments under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution.
Publicly, the ISPs remained silent throughout the process.
iMEGA announced today that it has reached a settlement with the DPS, and, in exchange for the withdrawal without prejudice of iMEGA's suit, the DPS sent what amounted to a rescission notice to the ISPs.
“I believe it may be more appropriate to resolve this problem by working to create clear and effective governmental policies concerning regulation of gambling. Although I do not anticipate sending similar notice letters in the future, I do remain committed to resolving the problem of online gambling. “ Willems wrote in the letter to ISPs dated June 5.
