Poker Players Excited by Turn of Events

June 10, 2009

With Minnesota announcing that they were going to block all poker playing online, many residents were concerned that they would lose their ability to have a good time online. There were many groups fighting the state and lawsuits had been brought against them. However, in a turn of events, the state has changed its mind.

Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety's Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED) had asked 11 Internet Service Providers to block online poker playing from happening, and poker players were outraged. They felt that the state was way overstepping their bounds and that they were invoking laws that were either archaic or did not apply to what they were trying to do.

But the ISPs chose to ignore the order on the advice of their attorneys. Their attorneys said that it would be thrown out if it was ever taken to court, and that they should continue business as usual. The poker players were still concerned though, because they did not know what would happen in court. However, Minnesota officials have since rescinded their order to block the sites.

Poker players say that they did it because they knew that they could not win in court, although AGED says that there is no way of knowing what would happen if it did go. Many feel that they did the right thing in back tracking, but they are concerned as to where it will go from here. The worry is that they have already said that they are not proceeding from this angle, but they have said that they are going to continue to fight to get online poker playing made illegal in the state.