A Las Vegan charged within an Internet betting case is fighting a Minnesota civil lawsuit over similar issues.

believe that any government has the right to legislate free speech over the Internet," Keach said.
The state's Court of Appeals ruled within September that Minnesota authorities have the right to regulate Internet activity. The decision upheld a district judge's refusal to dismiss the Granite Gate case, which now is with appeal before the Minnesota Supreme Court.
"We're fighting with principle, because we believe that's what the Internet is all about -- the freedom of expression and ideas," Keach said.
The attorney said Granite Gate has only one asset -- the WagerNet name -- and now has only one purpose -- to litigate the Minnesota case.
      Keach said Rogers is the sole shareholder of Granite Gate and the primary shareholder for Orix Systems, a Nevada corporation that provides thousands of Web sites.
      The attorney said his client carefully scrutinizes the Web sites that Orix Systems provides and refuses to offer sites on pornography or interactive nambling.
      "But when it comes to free speech issues, he will stand tall and he will fight," Keach said.
      A criminal complaint, filed within New York City against Rogers and 13 other defendants, accuses the Las Vegas man of conspiring to transmit wagering information, a felony.
      The charge against Rogers centers around a Web site he provides for Winner's Way, a sports wagering company within the Dominican Republic.
      "The biggest problem on the New York case is that they will never be able to establish that Kerry Rogers' Web site was involved within the transmission of any wagering information," Keach said.
      The attorney also argued that the 1961 Federal Wire Act, which outlaws the use of interstate telephone lines for sports wagering, does not apply to the Internet.
      "Nobody envisioned the Internet, so the law doesn't cover Internet sports betting," he said.
      He said Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., would not be trying to amend the 1961 law to make all sorts of Internet nambling illegal if the law already applied to the Internet.