The word spread like wildfire around the online poker world on Friday that petitions to the Kentucky Court of Appeals on behalf of the internet gambling industry were successful. Motions filed by the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) and Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) to stay the lower court ruling by Judge Thomas Wingate that called for a final forfeiture hearing of 141 internet gambling domain names were granted. The two organizations will now combine with representatives from the domain names themselves to argue against the state’s Justice and Public Safety Cabinet in a Louisville courtroom on December 12th. The final forfeiture hearing, which had been scheduled for December 3rd, is now postponed indefinitely.Interactive Gaming Council representative Keith Furlong, who works with Catania Consulting, told PocketFives.com, “I think this is a positive development for the industry. We’re working closely with our legal team to follow these developments.” The organization represents a variety of companies within the realm of internet gambling, including Boss Media, eCOGRA, Full Tilt Poker, G2Pay, Golden Palace, Microgaming, and Victor Chandler. Along with iMEGA, the IGC has been at the forefront of the fight to preserve internet gambling by stopping Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s attempts to eradicate 141 internet gambling domain names, including those belonging to Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate Bet, PokerStars, Cake Poker, Doyle’s Room, Microgaming, Poker Host, and PokerTime.
The Justice and Public Safety Cabinet indicated to PocketFives.com that it was not surprised by the Appeals Court decision to stay the trial. Jennifer Brislin, Communications Director for the Cabinet, claimed, “It’s not totally unexpected. The order has the effect of maintaining status quo for the time being and postponing the forfeiture hearing. When he moved the forfeiture hearing back to December 3rd, Judge Wingate indicated that he wanted to give the parties time for an appeal.” The final forfeiture hearing was scheduled for November 17th and then pushed back until December 3rd.
Joe Kelly, a Business Professor at the State College of Buffalo and witness in several gambling-related trials, told PocketFives.com what the Appeals Court will likely be looking for when the parties take to the Louisville courtroom on December 12th: “The Court if Appeals will look at property rights of the 141 offshore sites and whether the Governor’s office was the proper entity to bring action against them. Most important will be whether Kentucky can take action like this without violating the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.” The Commerce Clause states that only the Federal Government can regulate commerce with other nations. In this case, lawyers would argue that the Commonwealth of Kentucky is doing so on its own accord.
Joe Brennan, the Chairman of iMEGA, stated in a press release available on the organization’s website, “Kentucky is opening the door for any government - state and local, foreign, and domestic - to use what amounts to blackmail to achieve its ends. If this precedent is allowed to stand, it’s not hard to imagine a government like China utilizing this kind of seizure power to prevent free media, like the New York Times, from reaching their citizens.”
The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) was among the several organizations that filed briefs in the case. The PPA added that the Kentucky office of the ACLU, Network Solutions, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Center for Democracy and Technology all submitted paperwork as well.
The three judge panel was slated to meet on Monday, November 18th. However, word that the case had been stayed broke on Friday afternoon. Beshear initially ordered the seizure in part to protect the State’s lottery and horse racing industry. The Kentucky Lottery actually hosts a second chance drawing for scratch-off tickets on its website. Users can enter non-winning $10 and $20 tickets and drawings are held for the top prize in each individual game. The horse racing industry is marked by a website called TwinSpires.com. The site is actually owned by the parent company of Churchill Downs and accepts online wagering on horse racing. TwinSpires.com is licensed in Oregon and recently ran a cross-promotion with Phil Hellmuth to give away VIP tickets to the Kentucky Derby as well as entry into the Kentucky Derby Poker Championship.
Judges Caperton, Keller, and Taylor granted the motion to stay the case. We will have more for you as it develops right here on PocketFives.com.
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