Kentucky Loses Right to Seize Online Casino Names - For Now

The Kentucky Court of Appeals has voted 2-1 in favour of not letting the state seize the names of 141 online gambling domain names. The crux of the argument was that under Kentucky Law, the actual names are not devices of gambling.

This ruling overturns a previous ruling from October that claimed online gambling domains could be seized by the state of Kentucky because online gambling is illegal there.

Several big names were being targeted including Full Tilt Poker and Bodog. This decision is expected to be appealed again, sending this case to the highest courts.

The head of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, J. Michael Brown had this to say about the decision: "The Commonwealth will continue its action to protect Kentucky citizens from illegal internet gambling operations, and appeal the recent Court of Appeals ruling to the state Supreme Court. The evidence demonstrated that illegal and unregulated activity is occurring in Kentucky, and that millions of dollars are being lost as a result of that activity, a fact that wasn't disputed in Tuesday's ruling. We now have two judges who agree with our position, and two who disagree, so the most appropriate step is to make our case to the higher court."

While this is some rare great news for online gamblers, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the higher courts.

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