Kentucky State Government Determined to Win

April 09, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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The State of Kentucky seems determined to attack the online gambling industry wherever it can. Now that it looks like the state might lose the lawsuit they brought against the 141 domain names, and even though the Supreme Court has not yet brought down a ruling, Kentucky has found another way to go after online gambling operations.

Their latest attack has been somewhat of a surprise, as Kentucky is in the process of preparing to sue Pocket Kings Ltd., an Irish based online gambling operator. Pocket Kings operate the well known online poker site, Full Tilt Poker, as well as some other online gambling sites. The company has provided Kentucky residents with online gambling services for many years. The Kentucky government has decided that they would like to recoup losses that have been made by Kentucky residents.

In the domain name case, Kentucky has attempted to seize the 141 online gambling domain names under the guise that they are "gambling devices," and therefore can be seized according to Kentucky law. This time, Kentucky is attempting to obtain a refund from Pocket Kings for "the amount of money lost between March 25, 2005 and September 25, 2009 by persons located within the borders of Kentucky." The Kentucky statute 454.210 which is being used to make these demands calls for a refund of an amount of three times of all they money that was lost by Kentucky players within that time period, as well as any legal costs that the case incurs.

Should the State of Kentucky win this case, it will set a frightening precedence for the online gambling world. If Kentucky wins this case, and then decides to go after other online gambling operators, online gambling companies could lose huge amounts of money, possibly causing them to go bankrupt and therefore shut down. The ripple effect of such a case could be devastating.

A number of other online gambling businesses were also named by the Kentucky legal team, who has stated that "unknown individuals and entities have acted in concert in joint ventures to facilitate, host, operate, and profit from online gambling businesses.' The wording ensures that all possible areas are covered, leaving the possibility for the state to go after anyone they might not have named as yet.

One does wonder why Governor Beshear's administration is using such strange and desperate attempts to go after online gambling. A Louisville attorney, Jon Fleischaker has described these strange goings on as "very bizarre."