Online Casino Domain Name Appeal Set for October

September 09, 2009 | News Category: Gaming Law

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A date has been set by the Kentucky Supreme Court for the state to appeal the Kentucky appellate court's decision in the attempted domain name seizure case. The date for the appeal has been set for October 22nd, 2009. The oral argument from the state of Kentucky regarding their attempted seizure of the 141 Internet casino domain names will begin on this date.

This appeal in the Kentucky Supreme Court will be the last opportunity for Kentucky to attempt to reverse the decision of the lower courts regarding the forfeiture of domain names by Governor Steve Beshear.

In the initial court case in this regard, Judge Thomas Wingate, ruled for the state that the seizure order was within the confines of the law since the online gambling sites in question had violated Kentucky state law by using illegal gambling devices.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals, however, overturned that decision. The judges from the Court of Appeals explained that although the law regarding seizure of illegal gambling devices is correct and valid in the state of Kentucky, it had simply been misapplied in this case. The ruling brought down that the Internet is not to be considered as a gambling device in and of itself.

The appellate court judges explained that if the state wished to classify the Internet as a gambling device, then the subject would need to be addressed and clarified by the state legislature. If the state of Kentucky would like online gambling and its resultant transactions to be considered a gambling device, and therefore, able to be seized according to the law of the state, the legislature would have to pass a law in this regard.

Other questions, such as the jurisdiction of the state of Kentucky and the Constitutionality of the issues did not have a place in the appellate court's decision, since the decision that Internet domain names were not gambling devices overrode any of the other issues.

iMEGA (Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association) were the chief plaintiffs in the case. Other groups that support civil liberties and Internet freedom joined iMEGA in the fight against the state of Kentucky. iMEGA's chairman, Joe Brennan, Jr. said "From the beginning, Kentucky law has clearly supported our position, and a win in the State Supreme Court will put the final emphasis on that."

Brennan simply states on iMEGA's website that "We've been waiting for this for a long time, and we're going to win again."