The University of Massachusetts Amherst is demanding that a online poker portal cease and desist from using the schools trademark to promote online gambling. UMasspoker.com contains the trademarked lettering and Minuteman athletic logo and depicts the Minuteman peering over stacks of cash, dice, cards and poker chips. It is widely known amongst online gambling operators that college students make up a healthy portion of the US based online poker market. Several operators cater to college students in their marketing and promotional efforts.
"If they don’t comply then we go to court," school spokesman Ed Blaguszewski told The Associated Press on today. "The UMass name and logo are university property, and they cannot be used without the university’s permission. This Web site is not an appropriate use."
Brett Burdick has worked for the website as its moderator for a little over a year and graduated from the college last spring. The Umasspoker.com website is operated by online poker players that are currently attending the college or have previously attended the college.
"We never got any grief over it," stated Burdick. "There’s sites just like this all over the country on college campuses." When asked if the website and games being player are legal, Burdick replied "That’s sort of a gray area."
The University wants the site taken down and has no intention of prosecuting people connect to the online poker portal stated Blaguszewski.
"This is an issue across the country for colleges and universities," he said, adding that university health counselors "have begun working with residence life staff and plan to increase their outreach efforts."
Perhaps Blaguszewski’s concerns of student gambling should be taken up with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. The governor has proposed a plan to add three casinos in his state saying that expanded gambling would create $2 billion annually in economic activity and add 20,000 permanent jobs.
