Poker Forum - Kentucky To Seize Poker Domain Names

Updated October 8, 2008

We all know about the United States of America's general stance on online gambling—it sees it as illegal.

It has unsealed indictments on internet gambling execs and it has passed the UIGEA to combat it but the state of Kentucky has employed new tactics against things such as online poker.

Borrowing a page from 1st Technology's patent infringement case against Bodog, or what was once known as Bodog, Governor Steve Beshear was, as the Kentucky Post reports, "granted an order by a Franklin County Circuit judge last week that transferred the domain names of 141 illegal Internet gambling sites to the Commonwealth of Kentucky in an effort to stop illegal and unregulated online gaming."

The UK's Guardian reports that amongst the names at stake are PokerStars and Full Tilt, two of the online gaming companies that cater to American players.

As the managing director of the domain name holder of PokerStars told the Guardian, the move wasn't out of the blue.

"We anticipated this could happen and we've developed an action plan which largely consists of us not responding," Nick Wood said.

One of Kentucky's big industries is horse racing and it is believed that it feels threatened by online gambling.

The move could be unsuccessful though.

As Washington attorney David Stewart told the Guardian, "This is a stunt," while online-casinos.com reports that a number of defunct online gambling domains, including High Rollers Lounge.com and Lucky Pyramid Casino.com, are among the ones on the seizure list.

A hearing on the domain name seizure originally scheduled for today will be postponed a week, or October 7, so that legal representation of the parties involved can file legal briefs.

According to the Associated Press, during that October 7, hearing, the state argued that online gambling sites were illegal while the defense stated that the state of Kentucky didn't have jurisdiction over a matter "that could have international ramifications."

Online-casinos.com reports that Judge Thomas Wingate, who is presiding in the case, will need an additional seven days before coming to a decision.