Just over a month since the Minnesota Department of Public Safety sent letters to regional and national internet service providers (ISPs) with an order to block access to online gambling websites for all Minnesota residents, the actions have been officially dropped. On June 4, Rep. Pat Garofalo announced that the matter has been concluded and no further action will be taken.

It began in April when Minnesota newspapers reported that the aforementioned letters had already been distributed with a list of 200 online gambling websites, a haphazard list that was discovered to be incomplete and contained the names of sites that did not even accept U.S.-based customers. The Department of Public Safety’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division threatened that non-compliance would result in action from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the basis that the 1961 Federal Wire Act was being violated, though none of the ISP’s, such as AT&T and Charter, chose to respond with any intention to comply.

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) and Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) issued immediate statements regarding the illegality of the move and the organizations’ intentions to interfere on behalf of Minnesota residents. As the PPA privately discussed the issue with the Minnesota Attorney General to ask that the actions of the Department of Public Safety be stopped, iMEGA did the same but went further by filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Minneapolis against the Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division’s director John Willems.

At the same time, Minnesota State Representative Pat Garofalo introduced legislation to keep the department from enforcing any such ban, asserting that such censorship was not a “proper function” of the state’s governmental efforts. The bill asked that legislative approval be sought in any similar or future attempts.

The efforts of Garofalo, the PPA, iMEGA, and the Interactive Gaming Council were successful. Garofalo announced that it was determined that the “legal position underlying the issuance of the notices was reconsidered” and gave particular credit to the PPA and other organizations with putting a stop to the attempted censorship. Notices were sent to the ISPs informing them that they were to disregard the original letters from the Department of Public Safety.

“This is a great day for internet freedom,” he said. “In the spirit of cooperation and in recognition of the rescission of these notices, I am more than happy to withdraw my bill and in its place sponsor a discussion aimed at establishing a framework for regulating and licensing the online gaming industry.”

The Minnesota state director of the Poker Players Alliance commented, “Minnesota poker players made our voices heard, the state listened and ended its ill-advised and improper attempt to circumvent the rights of Minnesota poker players. We commend Representative Garofalo for literally taking this misguided effort head on and resolving it without incident.”

Working together to fight the actions of an imprudent state agency’s director, the rights of Minnesota residents to access legal gaming websites in the privacy of their homes were preserved. And it is likely that the spotlighting of the issue will prompt the state to take positive steps, per Rep. Garofalo, toward regulating internet gaming in order to protect everyone involved.

PPA executive director John Pappas credits its members for such a prompt resolution. “We are extremely proud of our membership for unifying so quickly and effectively in opposition to this action. We look forward to working with all parties involved to reach a sensible framework for regulation of this 21st Century pastime.”

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