Kentucky Appeals Latest Ruling In Online Gambling Domain Case

Published on January 22nd, 2009 1:21 am EST

The online gambling industry scored a victory on Tuesday when the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a suit to block the forthcoming seizure of 141 of the most-trafficked online gambling domains in the world.

In a 2-1 vote, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled that the state of Kentucky did not have the jurisdiction to seize the domains, and that domain names did not qualify as "gambling devices".

The state wasted no time in filing an appeal, and the matter will now be heard by the Supreme Court of Kentucky.

A number of organizations have lent their support to the industry in this case, including the ACLU, PPA, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Network Solutions and iMEGA.

Many people outside of the industry are keeping a close eye on this case, as these rulings could end up impacting many other online industries throughout the world.

In October, Judge Thomas Wingate ruled that the state of Kentucky could seize 141 online gambling domains based on the fact that they were "gambling devices".

This ruling targeted some of the most popular online poker sites in the world, including Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars.

It is expected that the state of Kentucky will have an uphill battle on their hands as they try to overturn the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruling. Many believe that the State's argument is flimsy at best and won't hold up at the Supreme Court level.

It will likely be a few months before this case reaches the Supreme Court of Kentucky. When it does, we'll post another update on this site.

As of right now, the domain names have not been forfeited and will (temporarily at least) remain with their rightful owners.