In the on going battle between gaming and US laws, gaming just won a skirmish about online bingo and intrusion by a government entity. Public Safety Office in Minnesota sent a letter to the twelve largest Internet Providers telling them that they had to stop delivering Bingo and gaming sites to citizens of Minnesota. They even sent a list of sites to be banned. They included on the list sites in England that do not let US players play there. They left off the list some of the biggest online sites that have thousands of US players. They tried the same stupid idea for poker sites.
What this crazy attempt by the state did not recognize is it did not have any legal standing to stop ISPs from providing Internet access. The unintended consequences of this action were so blatantly missed and the lack of legal authority for the state to do this was immediately put down by the state legislature as a waste of government time and money. Taking a way a little old ladies ability to play bingo online was not a good use of government time and money so stated the Minnesota congress. The ISPs just ignored the order as it had no legal basis other than is was a hair brained idea in the first place. It violated so many federal laws and agreements with other countries that it was dismissed as an idle threat immediately by the ISPs.
The funny part of the notice was the lack of knowledge that was displayed by whoever made up the list of gaming sites to block. It was comical that the state showed such lack of knowledge of gaming on the Internet and the fact that many of the UK sites that they listed do no take US players in the first place. The other fact was what criteria did they use to pick smaller gaming sites and leave off some of the biggest sites on the Net. This farce by the state of Minnesota is another example of why this whole matter needs to be controlled and run under a favorable law that would protect US citizens and bring in needed tax money to the offers of the US. It is time to get the idiots and zealots out of the bingo and poker players’ business and derive a law that is fair to both players and is an income producer to the states. Like the repeal of prohibition this will come to pass, but sooner would be better than later.
