Yesterday the Court of Appeal in Kentucky stopped the state from seizing 141 domain names. After it decided they were not, under Kentucky Law, considered as ‘gambling devices’.
The names belonged to online gaming companies.
The order was issued by Franklin Circuit Court back in September after Steve Beshear, the Kentucky Governor filed a lawsuit against the 141 domain, stating there was a threat to the citizens of the state, “by the ease, availability and anonymity of unlicensed, unregulated, illegal internet gambling.”
However the judges ruled in favour of the domains with Judge Michelle Keller expressing her majority opinion that “ It stretches credulity to conclude that a series of numbers, or internet address, can be said to constitute a machine or offer other device, designed and manufactured primarily for use in connection with gambling”.
PokerStars, Full Tilt, Absolute Poker, and Bodog were some of the owners of the 141 domains threatened with closure. Microgaming also made the announcement while the order was pending appeal that all gambling casinos powered by their software would no longer accept US-based players.
Joe Brennan Jr, the chair man at Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA), spoke after the ruling was announced saying, “we are happy with the courts ruling today, The judges clearly agreed with our interpretation of the law, and thankfully, this reverses what would have been a terrible precedent for our country and the internet.”