ISPs Blocking Gambling Related sites in the USA

[managra]

Thank you, Pina. I have been feeling down all day so it's nice to get a little compliment.

I spent some time on that draft; not satisfied with it yet but wanted to post it to get more feedback to see what angles we should stress once we start campaigning. So, i was really ticked off by "you know who"'s response. We are not talking about a little typo but some of the things in his draft were just stoooopid. You can't say in a letter that the industry self-regulates and has high standards if your letter clearly shows that your own standards (of communicating if nothing else) are clearly lacking.

I wait a few days to hear what Jetset finds out about Adelphia's testing. Perhaps he finds out something noteworthy that could be mentioned in the letter as well.

 

[Pinababy69]

Thank you, Pina. I have been feeling down all day so it's nice to get a little compliment.

I wait a few days to hear what Jetset finds out about Adelphia's testing. Perhaps he finds out something noteworthy that could be mentioned in the letter as well.

YW Managra....I hear ya about the down part. But the nice weather will be here soon, which should pick up all our spirits.

And yes, I too am waiting to see what Jetset finds out. I come here for a reason, and that is to get reliable information (and have some fun sometimes as well, lol). And I trust this site and the people who work here to deliver that.

 

[Casinomeister]

Please be cool

Hi all,

I was pretty much out for the weekend, and what began as a damn good informative thread has begun to spiral downward with some petty bickering. Please do not let this happen.

I appreciate the input that APCW has put forth - he's not "lowering" himself to post here, he and I have been corresponding over the past few years, and he is aware of the importance of this board. The proposed letter he presented was in my opinion a good starting point. No reason to get riled up with typos etc. If everyone was 100% tuned into English grammar, Bush never would be able to hold office.

Caruso, please don't derail the thread with the Bella Casino player thing. Her situation proves that an 18 year old can slip through the cracks just like in real life. I made this perfectly clear to her when she presented her case to me. If an 18 year old goes to Vegas and sits at a table or a slot machine, they are not carded. They win a bit of cash - they are not carded. They win a lot of money - they ARE carded. If they are under age, they get tossed. Simple as that. That's exactly how her case was - she knew what she was doing and slipped under the radar. In my opinion, both she and the casino were at fault. But that has nothing to do with this thread.

Jetset is checking into the adelphia thing on his end; I have contacts with a number of major news publications on my end - I'm hoping to use this thread for their reference, but if it gets whacked out of shape - there ain't no way.

So please, let's remain level headed and focused - and check the emotions at the door. Thank you.

 

[Pinababy69]

Jetset is checking into the adelphia thing on his end; I have contacts with a number of major news publications on my end - I'm hoping to use this thread for their reference, but if it gets whacked out of shape - there ain't no way.

Point made and noted!! And I do apologize to YOU Bryan if I was out of line.

 

[caruso]

Caruso, please don't derail the thread with the Bella Casino player thing. Her situation proves that an 18 year old can slip through the cracks just like in real life. I made this perfectly clear to her when she presented her case to me. If an 18 year old goes to Vegas and sits at a table or a slot machine, they are not carded. They win a bit of cash - they are not carded. They win a lot of money - they ARE carded. If they are under age, they get tossed. Simple as that. That's exactly how her case was - she knew what she was doing and slipped under the radar. In my opinion, both she and the casino were at fault. But that has nothing to do with this thread.

Then I'll post about this matter in another thread in a day or so, since I disagree on all matters here and need to explain - and the wider audience here needs to be made aware of this anyway.

Will leave this thread alone, however, since my point has been made.

 

[carlin]

I think you may find that some European countries may follow America's lead and start blocking ISPS. Basically, as long as its state sponsored, then gambling is fine. Kasino King is right, move to the UK for freedom of choice

 

[Casinomeister]

Then I'll post about this matter in another thread in a day or so, since I disagree on all matters here and need to explain - and the wider audience here needs to be made aware of this anyway.

Or how about posting it at your own website. I've already dealt with this enough and I don't see the point in regurgitating what went on at WOL. Thanks!

 

[Webzcas]

I haven't bothered reading the whole nine pages of this thread. I have though read the concerns on CAP and also over at the GPWA, as well as reading the opening post on this thread by CM.

My opinion for what it is worth is that everyone is getting too worried and overly paranoid. The outage that occured the other week whereby many people could not access gambling sites, was due to a major routing issue with one of the major ISP's in Canada. I have also had this confirmed by one casino who I have contacts with. Whereby even UK players could not access the prima network - which is in turn hosted in North America ( Canada ).

I would be extremely surprised if a bill could be passed in congress which would force US ISP's to filter out gambling sites. Not only would they have to turn the Wire Act on it's head, this would from where I see it be a breach of the 1st Amendment.

Indeed I believe the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms in the US has a greater chance of being removed. This is no way going to happen either. But gives you an idea as to how worried I personally am concerning this latest action.

However, what we all need to do, those that reside in the US and those such as myself, other webmasters and the casinos who have an interest in US Gambling is ensure our voices are heard collectively.

We need to all be singing from the same hymn sheet as it were and work together, to protect the rights of those who enjoy leisure based wagering activities.

 

[Casinomeister]

Hi All,

After reviewing my last general comment, perhaps I seemed to be coming across as a bit too harsh. My comments should have been specifically directed instead of a generalization since most members here remain cool.

Oh good gawd people this is freekin' rediculous.

I thought I could post a simple request here without it turning into a grammar lesson, constitutional debate, or anything else that detracts us from the issue of this industry being shut down.
...
Just be sure to forward me your mailing addresses so that I can send each of you fiddles... that way you have something to do while this industry burns (Please, no comments on my misguided allusions).

I hope that the ones of you not pointing out type-o's used this time for something more constructive... like actually writing a letter. If so, this wasn't a totally worthless use of my genuine and heartfelt efforts... however idealistic and misplaced.

Goodbye =0)

Okay, this was what I meant about being riled up about typos. No need to be too dramatic here. Yes, like I said - APCW's letter was a good start - but I should have continued stating that it needed toning down and checked for punctuation and grammar. But it's definitely nothing to get bent out of shape about.

And like I mentioned at the beginning of this thread, this issue concerns all of us no matter where you live.

 

[caruso]

Or how about posting it at your own website. I've already dealt with this enough and I don't see the point in regurgitating what went on at WOL. Thanks!

Just to clarify this: is this an absolute requirement to NOT mention this matter at Casinomeister? I had hoped to post about it to the wider audience, and solicit opinions of the forum members who will no doubt have missed it and would like to comment. However, if I may not make any mention of the Bella Vegas underage gambling incident without serious reprisals, I have no choice in the matter but to keep it under wraps.

 

[Casinomeister]

Just to clarify this: is this an absolute requirement to NOT mention this matter at Casinomeister? I had hoped to post about it to the wider audience, and solicit opinions of the forum members who will no doubt have missed it and would like to comment. However, if I may not make any mention of the Bella Vegas underage gambling incident without serious reprisals, I have no choice in the matter but to keep it under wraps.

I knew that would get you going.

Go ahead, be my guest and start a thread

 

[spearmaster]

What the heck is everyone so up tight about?

Integrity is headed in the right direction - all of you should take some time to contact your reps. Some suggestions to making his form letter better would certainly have been appreciated - but then some of you go off on him for his errors, or lack of PR sense, even though it's quite clear to all of you that the intent was good?

I am a perfectionist - I hate typos, grammatical errors, etc... and yet I still make them from time to time.

I am also a PR pro in my past life.

None of that affected me when it came to determining Integrity's intent. I'm not going to question motives for I see no reason to do so.

Now if those of you who are willing and able to contact your rep, using someone's draft, or your own, please do so. Me, I'm going to be contacting anyone I know that is involved with the bill, whether they are a sponsor, co-author, known supporter, etc. And I'm not going to be mincing any words

 

[AussieDave]

Any ideas on how to deal with this? I'm all ears.

If your speaking in terms of ISP blocking URL's then I'd say use a proxy or

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is another good place to start.

As for the long term solution. There's ways around a lot things CM, no one knows this better than this industry! I'm sure they'll work something out

 

[dominique]

So Integrity makes typos and has a temper.

Under the circumstances the typos are not a bad thing because it is really better to somewhat rewrite each letter anyway.

The APCW is a well known organization among affiliates - it audits affiliate programs and discloses results. It is very useful and professionally run and certainly not an anonymous ID to hide behind. It is a great help in keeping the marketing sections of online gambling institutions on the straight and narrow. Hats off to the APCW.

It doesn't really much matter whether one thinks the US population will react to blocking of websites or not - the fact is that year after year bills are introduced that are supposed to make online gambling illegal. It hasn't happened yet, and every single letter that goes out to representatives is a gem.

For every one person who writes or calls, there are some 200 assumed to think the same but stop just short of making noise.

So each letter written is worth some 200.

So, take a few minutes and do something to protect freedom.

 

[jetset]

I find it difficult to believe that the members of this board who were rightfully critical of Integrity's suggested form letter are now being mildly chastised here by regular posters whose opinion I (usually) respect. I don't think that is justified.

That letter was not suitable imo and by the author's own admission it was a rushed job. Under those circumstances the people here to whom he presented it had every right to voice an opinion, and he should have kept his cool when they did so - but that's just my opinion.

However, before we slide completely away from the main topic, I will venture the opinion that APCW's suggested letter did serve to focus attention on the need for our American members to bombard their political representatives with somewhat more thoughtful letters protesting the launch of the latest attempt to ban online gambling.

As regards this ISP blockade possibility I have heard nothing thus far from Adelphia, but to be fair the questions went in over a weekend, we're still around Monday morning in the States and it may be that they are still scratching their heads on the allegations and what they should say.

 

[winbig]

but then some of you go off on him for his errors

I am a perfectionist - I hate typos, grammatical errors, etc... and yet I still make them from time to time.

Just to clarify my pointing out the errors, I was indeed just trying to make it look more professional...wasn't trying to bust anyone's balls

 

[dominique]

However, before we slide completely away from the main topic, I will venture the opinion that APCW's suggested letter did serve to focus attention on the need for our American members to bombard their political representatives with somewhat more thoughtful letters protesting the launch of the latest attempt to ban online gambling.

That, exactly, was the intention of my post.

This is an important issue and I just don't want to see us getting lost and not seeing the forest for the trees.

 

[managra]

In my first post in this thread i mentioned the ease of being able to email to a number of politicians my opinion about another current hot potato. On important issues there are lots of people who would like to speak out, can't come up with a decent letter, can't readily find relevant email addresses, and end up doing nothing and then feel guilty.

There must be lots of groups who have strong opposition against the proposed OG legislation. If they can band together, they could come up with a similar approach that will facilitate their membership to take real action, other than making posts to like-minded people on a forum. I will post the link here so that you can see what i am talking about. Perhaps someone (CM?, Jetset?) can even contact them to:

a) see whether they want to make the form sw available to us and
b) see whether they want to add this issue to their own Action agenda.

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Just a suggestion.

 

[jetset]

The response from Adelphia is emphatic, and that is that this allegation that it was testing filters with a view to blocking online gambling is, and I quote: "absolutely false."

The spokesman goes on to say: "No gambling specific filters have been used on our net. We had a network problem that affected our routing."

The company will in all cases comply with the law, the spokesman added, and it is not prepared to comment on hypothetical scenarios such as this one.

 

[Pinababy69]

Thank you Jetset!!!

 

[dominique]

It still makes a lot of sense to voice opinions re. the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.

 

[spearmaster]

The response from Adelphia is emphatic, and that is that this allegation that it was testing filters with a view to blocking online gambling is, and I quote: "absolutely false."

The spokesman goes on to say: "No gambling specific filters have been used on our net. We had a network problem that affected our routing."

The company will in all cases comply with the law, the spokesman added, and it is not prepared to comment on hypothetical scenarios such as this one.

I gotta say I didn't expect any other answer... LOL...

What Lou is pointing out about an apparent filtering is definitely possible - but a routing problem can often appear to have the same effect. I remember I used to have international connectivity problems from Thailand, and on occasion it would definitely seem that my site, and other gambling sites, were blocked, while access to sites in other industries was ok.

What I didn't realize at the time is that most of these "other" sites were in fact being cached by the ISP so they always had some semblance of being available, whereas I'm probably the only guy in Thailand trying to access online gambling sites... LOL...

Sadly, though - Thailand indeed does now implement a filter which blocks access to porno and gambling sites that cross their radar (fortunately, none of the online casino portals seem to be affected). The only ISP in Thailand which refuses to use this filter, strangely enough, is the government entity which was spun off into a private corporation. But the person running that show has always stood up for freedom of access, and he is probably also the only head of an ISP which can get off scot-free because he is highly respected in the industry.

 

[kheladi]

bellyrock gaming download sites are blocked from my ip

I have adelphia in PA and i think bellyrock gaming download sites are blocked from my ip

 

[jetset]

It still makes a lot of sense to voice opinions re. the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.

Of course it does, Dom...but the central topic of this thread is about an allegation that Adelphia were testing filters to block online gambling, which that company has now emphatically denied.

 

[Webzcas]

I can't access any Carmen Media Sites in Gibraltar. I get redirected to google.com, even though physically my apartment is no more than a walk across the road from their servers.

To try them out I have to wait until I am in Spain or the UK.

Anyhow, I am digressing

The response from Aldephia mirrors the information that I was told by an Online Casino last week ie: Major Routing problem in Canada - This is very plausible and I am inclined to believe this.