Judge bans Internet gambling company from operating in Missouri
Judge bans Internet gambling company from operating in Missouri
http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/info/052597/info14_11497.html
Copyright © 1997 Nando.net Copyright © 1997 Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (May 25, 1997 00:31 a.m. EDT) -- A Missouri judge on Friday banned an Internet gambling company from operating in the state.
The Jackson County ruling places Missouri in the forefront of an emerging national debate that will determine whether cyber gambling fades or evolves into a $10 billion-a-year business, as some industry analysts project.
Visiting St. Francois County Circuit Judge Stan L. Murphy also ordered that Interactive Gaming & Communications Corp. pay more than $66,000 in fines and legal expenses. Interactive Gaming has refused and plans to take its fight to federal court.
Among other terms Murphy imposed on Interactive Gaming, which operates out of Blue Bell, Pa.:
- Interactive Gaming cannot market, offer or promote gambling in Missouri.
- Interactive Gaming must post a notice on its home page that Missouri residents cannot register to gamble, and it must immediately reject any who try. It must also notify the state attorney general if anyone does try to register.
- At its expense, the company must provide any of its computer records or office records for any audits requested by Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon.
The judge also found that Interactive Gaming's subsidiary, Global Casinos Ltd. in the Caribbean, is a mere "alter ego" of the Pennsylvania firm. Interactive Gaming uses offshore gambling accounts to try to circumvent Missouri law, he ruled. His ruling applies to only Interactive Gaming and Global.
About 20 offshore companies offer gambling on the Internet and more are coming, said Sue Schneider, managing editor of Rolling Good Times OnLine, an Internet news service. Slot machines, card games, roulette and other casino-style games can be played after establishing a cash account that is drawn on during play.
Nixon said he would watch for any other companies operating in Missouri and act on any complaints against them.
He said this was the first time in the United States that an ongoing Internet gambling operation had been sued and stopped. He said the company violated state gambling laws. The gambling business never gained momentum in the state, because Nixon last month filed a restraining order against it.
The issue of Internet gambling is getting attention elsewhere.
In Wisconsin, a state case is pending in which the state sued a company that was about to start. A federal case also is pending in Wisconsin in which a gambling company has sued to get a judgment on whether Internet gambling is legal. A bill to make Internet gambling illegal failed in Congress last year; a similar measure is pending this year.
As more Internet gambling companies open or announce plans to start, Nixon said, "they are watching our case and the one in Wisconsin."
Philadelphia lawyer Lawrence Hirsch, who represents the company, said Friday that the fight between Nixon and Interactive Gaming just started.
"We'll send them a lawsuit in federal court," Hirsch said. "They're trying to murder a legitimate business."
The company will put the warning on its Internet site that Missouri residents are forbidden to play, he said, "and we'll tell them why."
"Do the people of Missouri think they need to get Jay's permission to get on the Internet and spend $25?" he asked.
Murphy signed the default order following unopposed testimony Thursday in Kansas City from assistant Missouri attorneys general. Hirsch said he chose not to appear.
Assistant Attorney General J. Dale Youngs called witnesses, presented evidence and drove home his points for four hours. Highlights of the hearing included:
- On Feb. 25 an investigator called the web site and a woman named Marjorie assured him gambling would be legal. On March 17 he got a user ID number and the password "Daisy." He mailed in $100 to play in a slots tournament. Nixon soon filed against Interactive Gaming.
- On April 24, Interactive Gaming agreed not to accept business from Missouri residents and to put a warning to them on its home site.
- From May 9 to 20 another undercover investigator registered to gamble, mailed in $200 to start an account and gambled. That was unintentional, Hirsch said Friday,"stupidity by employees."
- Missouri strictly controls gambling and checks backgrounds of all companies that apply for licenses. The FBI had served a search warrant at Interactive Gaming headquarters in February. The company does not know the reason for the search and no charges have been filed, Hirsch said Friday.
- All the income from Interactive Gaming comes from gambling accounts that clients deposit in Grenada. If customers decided to suddenly withdraw all that money, the company would be more than $1 million short.
Hirsch said Friday that Interactive Gaming's only gambling accounts in Missouri came from the two investigators. He hopes for more later, he said, when courts establish that citizens or federal laws control Internet gambling.
"They say they're not under Missouri law," Nixon said, "but that hasn't prevented them from taking Missourians' money."
By JOE LAMBE, Kansas City Star
************************************************************************ Michael A. Geist Associate in Law, Columbia University, School of Law 435 West 116th Street New York, NY, 10027, U.S.A. e-mail: mag76@columbia.edu url: http://www.columbia.edu/~mag76
# Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com # You can get PGP outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/pgp # (If this is a mailing list or news, please Cc: me on replies. Thanks.)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In <3.0.1.32.19970527025203.00739e9c@popd.ix.netcom.com>, on 05/27/97 at 02:52 AM, Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com> said:
Judge bans Internet gambling company from operating in Missouri
http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/info/052597/info14_11497.html
Copyright 1997 Nando.net Copyright 1997 Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (May 25, 1997 00:31 a.m. EDT) -- A Missouri judge on Friday banned an Internet gambling company from operating in the state.
This comes as no suprise to anyone who was in KCMO durring the fight over riverboat gambling. The politions there have sold their souls to the big cassinos for the prommise of tax dollars that they could then use to buy votes. They now see Internet Gaming as a threat to their revenue stream (both riverboat cassinos & state sponsored numbers racket). - -- - --------------------------------------------------------------- William H. Geiger III http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii Geiger Consulting Cooking With Warp 4.0 Author of E-Secure - PGP Front End for MR/2 Ice PGP & MR/2 the only way for secure e-mail. OS/2 PGP 2.6.3a at: http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii/pgpmr2.html - --------------------------------------------------------------- Tag-O-Matic: Turn your 486 into a Gameboy: Type WIN at C:\> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3a Charset: cp850 Comment: Registered_User_E-Secure_v1.1b1_ES000000 iQCVAwUBM4sXRY9Co1n+aLhhAQHgUgP+MWwywMqugcdz6w/7dR57LEbYCXDQ5+Om 47LHyEaObrbmKaz+VRHJIlKwOcK+L+Uw9ah0Nzp8Gp7R/N0sRIlH0UnQceTuATWi 7Rv2z6gFZkNQrXXFEODxGYp+brKzXTGU8HLJeMDlVTXm9Ee/el10hMSVvZgLANIc Yvad1qdeVoA= =ldZl -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
At 12:04 PM -0700 5/27/97, Tim May wrote:
(And the lotteries have incredibly bad payoff odds...something like 30-40%, if I remember correctly. A slot machine with these odds would be shut down instantaneously as being a theft device! The state lotteries are often called "taxes on stupidity," and none of the well-off folks I know ever play this sucker's game. So, I should be rejoicing that Ma and Pa Kettle are squandering their paychecks on State-run gambling...but the principle is the thing I object to.)
I object to the state, providing addictive substances/experiences when private enterprise could do the job. If they are against addiction, then they should set a good example. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | The Internet was designed | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | to protect the free world | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | from hostile governments. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA
At 12:12 PM -0500 5/27/97, William H. Geiger III wrote:
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (May 25, 1997 00:31 a.m. EDT) -- A Missouri judge on Friday banned an Internet gambling company from operating in the state.
This comes as no suprise to anyone who was in KCMO durring the fight over riverboat gambling.
The politions there have sold their souls to the big cassinos for the prommise of tax dollars that they could then use to buy votes.
They now see Internet Gaming as a threat to their revenue stream (both riverboat cassinos & state sponsored numbers racket).
Also no surprise here in California, where gambling is a crime--unless the State of California runs the gambling operation. E.g., the Lottery system. (Actually, there are a few exceptions to this state monopoly on gambling. Indian reservations have the right, though this right is being challenged up and down the state, to run certain types of casinos. And "card clubs" are permitted, under certain conditions.) To paraphrase a line from my .sig, there's something wrong when the State outlaws some behavior or practice but then sets itself up as the monopoly supplier. What's next? California Houses of Sexual Relief? ("Our schools win too!") I've found that even nonlibertarians are chagrinned by this display of governmental greed. If something is a crime, it's a crime. I don't think gambling is a crime, but the State has decreed that is. Hard to believe they bust casual gamblers who bet on bowling games (a recent case) while running their own lottery. (And the lotteries have incredibly bad payoff odds...something like 30-40%, if I remember correctly. A slot machine with these odds would be shut down instantaneously as being a theft device! The state lotteries are often called "taxes on stupidity," and none of the well-off folks I know ever play this sucker's game. So, I should be rejoicing that Ma and Pa Kettle are squandering their paychecks on State-run gambling...but the principle is the thing I object to.) --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (May 25, 1997 00:31 a.m. EDT) -- A Missouri judge on Friday banned an Internet gambling company from operating in the state.
As my daddy once said, "Son, follow the money." Dispite the clearly boogyman media coverage, for example, about teens using their parent's credit cards to gamble online, all this hand wringing and posturing by states is merely about trying to prevent competition to their monopoly gaming franchise. Although online gaming is strictly in a nascent stage, the revenue generated by state run or regulated gaming has become too large and important to state politicians to allow unregulated (i.e., taxed) Internet business to muscle in. Hell, the lotteries are nothing more than a state franchised number's racket. The mistake Interactive Gaming and some other online gaming sites have made is to have any corporate presence in the US. I guess its a bit of bravado on the part of these entrepreneurs, mostly American, to "tickle the dragon's tail" and not expect to get whipped once in a while. For excellent coverage of this issue, see Glenn Barry's coverage in Rolling Good Times OnLine's site at http://www.rgtonline.com/Nambling.html --Steve PGP mail preferred Fingerprint: FE 90 1A 95 9D EA 8D 61 81 2E CC A9 A4 4A FB A9 Key available on BAL server, http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~bal/pks-toplev.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Schear | tel: (702) 658-2654 CEO | fax: (702) 658-2673 First ECache Corporation | 7075 West Gowan Road | Suite 2148 | Las Vegas, NV 89129 | Internet: azur@netcom.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- I know not what instruments others may use, but as for me, give me Ecache or give me debt. SHOW ME THE DIGITS!
participants (5)
-
Bill Frantz -
Bill Stewart -
Steve Schear -
Tim May -
William H. Geiger III