Online Gaming Wins Kentucky Appeal
Date Added: January 22, 2009
Finally there is good news from Kentucky for online casinos and poker rooms. The decision in the appeal filed by iMEGA and others against the interim order of Judge Wingate was announced by the three judge appellate bench. The 2 to 1 decision was in favor of the online gaming fraternity.
Last year the Governor of Kentucky ordered the seizure of 141 domain names of online gambling sites stating that the domain names were illegal gambling devices under Kentucky law. The owners of the domain names went to court. Franklin County Circuit Judge Wingate heard the case and in an interim order he ruled in favor of the Governor. However before he could deliver the final order the domain name owners filed an appeal and proceedings were stayed in Judge Wingate’s court. The appellate bench heard the case last year but said that the judgment would be given in January 2009. The main appellant was iMEGA acting on behalf of a large number of the domain name holders. After the hearing iMEGA had expressed confidence that the decision would be in their favor and this stand has now been vindicated.
Judges Jeff Taylor and Michelle Keller ruled in favor of the domain name holders. According to these judges the critical aspect of the case was deciding whether the domain names were gambling devices as defined under Kentucky law. They felt that a series of numbers or Internet addresses cannot be said to constitute a machine or mechanical device. Therefore they concluded that the trial court had erred in its decision and that the decision of the trial court should be set aside. The two judges also ruled that the Internet gambling trade associations could argue before the court on behalf of their members.
Judge Michael Caperton disagreed with this view. In his dissent he said that in the given environment “a more expansive view of the definition of an online gambling device” needs to be taken. He said that the domain name, though a string of numbers or letters, enabled communication between the players’ computers and the server of the domain name owners. Hence it was a critical component of the system and could be viewed as a gambling device.
Joe Brennan Jr., the chairman of iMEGA, issued a statement after the judgment was released. He was happy that the court interpreted the law in the same manner that the iMEGA had done and added, “… this reverses what would have been a terrible precedent for our country and the Internet.”
The State of Kentucky has as yet to react to the judgment.
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