Changes to the state of Tennessee's online gambling law

[Shayn Mackenzie]

Hi everyone,

This is going to seem weird, but the State of Tennessee just approved online gambling effective July 1st, 2019 and I was wondering how to get Linden Labs to change the ban for my wounderful state.  I might be misunderstanding the change but sure sounds like it will effect skill gaming for SL for us.  Here is a link to the change.    I could be really off on all of this but never hurts to ask.

https://www.legalbettingonline.com/states/tennessee/

 

Thanks Shayn.

 

Edited July 21, 2019 by Shayn Mackenzie
word corrections

[Selene Gregoire]

Linden Lab has to adhere to California state law and federal law. Tennessee has no jurisdiction over LL.

[Shayn Mackenzie]

Yes but it's Tennessee's state law that lead to them banning the access to skill gaming.  I am curious if this could change that.

 

[Selene Gregoire]

11 minutes ago, Shayn Mackenzie said:

Yes but it's Tennessee's state law that lead to them banning the access to skill gaming.  I am curious if this could change that.

 

There are other countries that have banned online gambling. LL isn't going to cut itself off from those countries. So no, it wont' change anything for SL.

[Shayn Mackenzie]

Still since it was against state law but not federal when the ban went into effect and the law has changed, never hurts to hope

 

 

[Tari Landar]

1 hour ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Linden Lab has to adhere to California state law and federal law. Tennessee has no jurisdiction over LL.

What Shayn is inquiring about has nothing to do with federal laws or those in the state of California. This is about gaming regions and specific state laws that prohibit access (not federal). It just so happens that Tennessee once had a ban which prohibited residents (or those with IPs located there, rightfully so or not) from entering gaming sims. That state has now changed their mind on this, so it is entirely possible, plausible, maybe probable, that LL will amend this as well. There is literally no reason whatsoever for Tennessee to remain o. The prohibited list if it no longer is. How long that will take...dunno. 

Edited July 21, 2019 by Tari Landar

[KT Kingsley]

Here you go: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Second_Life_Skill_Gaming_FAQ#Prohibited_states_and_countries.

 

Quote

 

Please review the list of prohibited states below and your account status to see if you can participate.

Prohibited states and countries

Residents of the following states and countries may not participate in Skill Gaming in Second Life:

• Arizona
• Arkansas
• Delaware
• Florida
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Nevada
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee

 

 

[Shayn Mackenzie]

this is not about the list, I know Tennessee is on the list this is about a change to the Tennessee law effective 1 July 2019,  that makes that list a bit obsolete.  That is my 2 cents.  I am not saying i'm right, just how I feel.  As I said never hurts to ask.

[Lyssa Greymoon]

The law legalizes sports betting, I’m not sure that’s relevant to skill gaming in SL.

[KT Kingsley]

I quoted the list from, and the link to, the SL wiki to show that LL does, in fact, disallow residents of some states from participating in skill gaming, which seems to be causing some confusion.

[Shayn Mackenzie]

Probably not, but it did meantion that it opens the door to online gambling at offshore locations.  Not really sure what that meant, so thought, why not open a can of worms

 

[Miranda Umino]

On 7/21/2019 at 6:07 AM, Selene Gregoire said:

Linden Lab has to adhere to California state law and federal law. Tennessee has no jurisdiction over LL.

But californian law is not federal law . 

[AyelaNewLife]

5 minutes ago, Miranda Umino said:

But californian law is not federal law . 

What's your point? Linden Lab still has to follow both sets of laws, that's just how multi-tier legal systems work.

[Miranda Umino]

19 minutes ago, AyelaNewLife said:

What's your point? Linden Lab still has to follow both sets of laws, that's just how multi-tier legal systems work.

What you describe is an uni-tier legal system work . Not a multi-tier

You forget there exist more that one law or one right : there is the field of application of the law for the provider , but there is too the field of application of law for the consumers , and in addition , as it s not LL who creates the games sim , there are too the field of application of law for the owners of sims

I am even sure that the laws about gambling ( in other enterprises  , real entreprises and other , outside SL ) have tried to define how it should work when there are different field of applications . 

The short answer : "it s written in californian law" is not pertinant and even , could be wrong in some specific situations

Edited July 22, 2019 by Miranda Umino

[Teagan Tobias]

I live in Florida and what I don’t understand is why I can’t even go in the sim.

I understand I can’t gamble but that can easily be taken care of, the same as it keeps me out of the sim. I like the live entertainment in SL and when there is a show in a gambling sim, I can’t go see the show, has happened.

Why keep me out of the entire sim and not just keep me off the gambling equipment? But I do admit I know nothing about it because I don’t gamble any how.

I’ll be back in a minute, I need to go get my lottery ticket.

And that is another thing, gambling is rampant in Florida, but I can’t gamble in Second Life????? (LMFAO)

[AyelaNewLife]

6 minutes ago, Teagan Tobias said:

And that is another thing, gambling is rampant in Florida, but I can’t gamble in Second Life????? (LMFAO)

Gambling on games of chance isn't allowed in Second Life. Skill gaming - pseudo gambling; but it is legally different to outright gambling - is however allowed in Second Life, although they do block access to residents from certain countries and states. Florida is one of those. Remember, just because something isn't illegal, doesn't mean that a business is legally obligated to provide you with that service.

[Teagan Tobias]

Ayela said:

Remember, just because something isn't illegal, doesn't mean that a business is legally obligated to provide you with that service.

 

 

That’s an understatement. But still does not answer my question, why keep me out of the sim. And no I do not expect an answer, I just find it nonsensical.

[Polenth Yue]

34 minutes ago, Teagan Tobias said:

That’s an understatement. But still does not answer my question, why keep me out of the sim. And no I do not expect an answer, I just find it nonsensical.

The answer is pretty simple. It's because they can't differentiate between a tip jar, a vendor and a gambling machine. It's all the same pay operation. The only way to stop you putting money in those machines is to make sure you don't have access to them.

[Parhelion Palou]

9 hours ago, Teagan Tobias said:

And that is another thing, gambling is rampant in Florida, but I can’t gamble in Second Life????? (LMFAO)

You can't gamble in SL because Florida has a law against online gambling. They want you to spend your money in their own state.

 

 

[Miranda Umino]

On 7/22/2019 at 1:22 PM, Parhelion Palou said:

You can't gamble in SL because Florida has a law against online gambling. They want you to spend your money in their own state.

You do a mess :

Horse race gambling is forbidden in Florida  ( amendement 13 november 2018 ), but casinos gamblings are not :

see by yourself 10 instances of casinos ( not exhaustive ) where you can gamble in floridia

https://southfloridareporter.com/10-casinos-you-can-gamble-at-in-south-florida/

 

In adddition : there are some native americans groups in floridia Native American reservations do not fall under state jurisdiction, and are sovereign and subordinate only to the federal government. ( Seminole tribe and Miccosukee  tribe

Check by yourself : https://www.500nations.com/Florida_Casinos_Tribes.asp

But the customers of these casinos are not mainly native americans 

So  , i don t understand  the Linden policy who is harder for floridians  ( and native americans foridians ) than in Florida 

Edited July 27, 2019 by Miranda Umino

[Parhelion Palou]

5 hours ago, Miranda Umino said:

You do a mess :

Horse race gambling is forbidden in Florida  ( amendement 13 november 2018 ), but casinos gamblings are not :

see by yourself 10 instances of casinos ( not exhaustive ) where you can gamble in floridia

https://southfloridareporter.com/10-casinos-you-can-gamble-at-in-south-florida/

 

In adddition : there are some native americans groups in floridia Native American reservations do not fall under state jurisdiction, and are sovereign and subordinate only to the federal government. ( Seminole tribe and Miccosukee  tribe

Check by yourself : https://www.500nations.com/Florida_Casinos_Tribes.asp

But the customers of these casinos are not mainly native americans 

So  , i don t understand  the Linden policy who is harder for floridians  ( and native americans foridians ) than in Florida 

Florida allows people to gamble in Florida. What they don't allow is for people in Florida to gamble on the internet. That's why LL can't allow people who appear to be in Florida (based on IP address location) to go to gaming regions in SL. I live in a state that has both casinos and horse racing, but internet gambling is illegal and therefore I can't go to gaming regions. In my case, I have no interest in it so I don't care.

[Miranda Umino]

3 hours ago, Parhelion Palou said:

Florida allows people to gamble in Florida. What they don't allow is for people in Florida to gamble on the internet. That's why LL can't allow people who appear to be in Florida (based on IP address location) to go to gaming regions in SL. I live in a state that has both casinos and horse racing, but internet gambling is illegal and therefore I can't go to gaming regions. In my case, I have no interest in it so I don't care.

Firstly i notice you have changed your assumption :

from "floridia is againts gambling" , you tell now "floridia allows people to gamble in florida" .

Secondly , now , you tell that "floridia forbids to gamble on the internet" . It s always wrong .

Several sites are allowed for floridians :

for instance :

betamerica

https://playinglegal.com/review/betamerica

I quote 

"

BetAmerica is in full compliance with all applicable United States and Federal laws.

Wagering is restricted in certain states. Account holders shall not make wagers from their account while physically located in one of the following states: Arizona,  Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, North Dakota, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington."

Where is Floridia in the restrictive list ? Nowhere

Check by yourself

 

In addition , King.com , royalgames.com ( King Digital Entertainment  ) is a well known platform game where you can spend and earn not only candies  but  you can spend and earn real cashes . No users in all united states have been forbidden  . It s well known platform in facebook , google play , mobiles etc ..

What  are becomen these kind of games in SL ?

 

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by Miranda Umino

[Lindal Kidd]

So go play on those sites.

You're not going to get LL to change their Skill Gaming or gambling policies by arguing about them here.

[Corky Linden]

So I've heard about this new Tennessee decision and I did a little digging, because I was curious as well, and spoke to our legal team. Here is what I found out:

Tennessee’s new law  legalized sports gambling online and in mobile apps; it does not extend to the Skill Gaming we have inside Second Life.  For this reason, Tennessee will not be removed from the list of Prohibited States and Countries found here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Second_Life_Skill_Gaming_FAQ#Prohibited_states_and_countries.

If you have any other concerns about the Second Life Wagering Policy, please feel free to visit the link below:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Policy_Regarding_Wagering_in_Second_Life