Admittedly, the online poker industry was caught off guard by a decision by the news distribution service, PRWeb, to stop publishing content by internet poker gaming sites over the weekend.

PRWeb was sent a Cease and Desist Order by the State of Washington to immediately stop accepting publications by these sites and operators as it went against the law of the state. PRWeb was purchased by Vocas in 2006, a company that trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange and is based in – you guessed it – Washington.

“Moving forward, PRWeb will no longer be publishing releases that promote or link to online gambling or related websites,” read a rather wordy statement by PRWeb. “This shift in editorial has been prompted by legal considerations and brings us in line with the stance that other notable organizations such as Google and Yahoo are currently taking with regard to promotion of online gambling in the U.S.”

Who will be affected by PRWeb’s decision? While a number of top sites use this company’s services (including Ultimate Bet, Full Tilt and DevilFishPoker), it can’t be said that there are no other services such as those offered by PRWeb to spread the good word. Any operators who asked for a refund were given one on the spot by PRWeb, and other news distributors are now benefiting from their business.

What seems to irk online poker operators, though, is that – once again – Washington has lumped poker with other internet casino games. “We expressed our disappointment that they have chosen to place all gaming-related content in the same category rather than considering poker as a game of skill,” said Ultimate Bet about PRWeb’s decision.
“We requested that they reconsider the details of their policy and look to exempt poker-related content from this blanket ban on all gaming-based editorial.”

Not surprisingly, PRWeb hasn’t responded to Ultimate Bet’s complaint. After all, this company really has its hands tied and needs to heed the Cease and Desist Order. What is surprising, though, is just how far the long arm of the Washington law manages to reach.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 10:36 am and is filed under Jackpot News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.