Kentucky Playing Hardball
December 26, 2009
The state of Kentucky is back in the news with their repeated attempts to gain control of 144 online gambling domain names. They have already tried to gain control of these online gambling domain names, and have been thus so far thwarted in those attempts. The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled in January of this year that they could not seize them and blocked all attempts to do so.
However, now they are targeting more online gambling names and are refusing to name those that they are targeting. The state’s lawyers aid that they have new online gambling names that they are going after, but they are not going to release the names of those sites. They said that they don’t have to and that not only do they not have to tell them they don’t have the right to challenge the motion at all.
The state originally convinced a judge to rule against the online gambling community and give them control of the domains. If the owners of the online gambling domains wanted them back they would have to pay huge cash settlements to get them back and they would have to set up proper controls to keep Kentucky residents from participating at their sites. However, with no representation from the online gambling sites at the meeting, many felt that it was not a legal meeting at all. Another judge has heard the matter and is expected to give his ruling early next year.
The online gambling industry said that by adding more names on the list they are simply trying to make the situation appear more dire and they called it a “Hail Mary” pass as they were losing and didn’t know what else to do. The online gambling industry said that as they have already lost a very big battle with the state their chances of losing this one are just as good.
