WinnerOnline-Editorial

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."

It should be noted that Governor Beshear is a proponent of land-based casino gambling.

Citing iMEGA president Edward Leyden, Gambling911.com reports the order was filed under the cover of secrecy.

"This was filed in secret. It was a sealed case file. This is why nobody knew about this matter," Leyden said.

"This is the kind of star chamber proceeding that inspired the framers of our Constitution to place great emphasis that they did on fundamental due process rights."

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."

A decision from Judge Thomas Wingate, who is presiding in the case, was set to be rendered on October 15 but was delayed by a day.

A fax from Judge Wingate's secretary stated, "Computer problems. Order will be issued [on October 16]."

On the 16th, Online Casino Advisory reported that Judge Wingate denied requests to dismiss the case.

He ordered arguments to be presented before him on November 17, 2008 before making a decision on whether the state can claim the domain names.

Online gambling websites can protect themselves by blocking access to visitors from Kentucky and will reportedly have 30 days to do so.

More on the situation here.