Kentucky’s Governor Steve Beshear has had a long-standing grudge against gambling, starting last summer with an attempt to seize 141 gambling related domain names from owners in an attempt to combat local gambling trends. Now, to “up the ante”, Bershear is looking at a new target: Full Tilt Poker.
Basing his attacks on the premise that any money lost by Kentucky residents by gambling online at Full Tilt’s website, Governor Beshear has recently filed a lawsuit against Full Tilt in an attempt to successfully follow through with what he claims will recuperate lost funds that should legally belong to the people of Kentucky by forcing Full Tilt to repay any losses incurred by Kentucky residents back to the government. From the lawsuit, however, no actual Kentucky residents would ever receive the money directly – instead the government would act as a handler of the money and return it to the people through various government programs.
The primary difficulty in the case for Beshear lies in the fact of actually proving the funds lost by Kentucky residents to Full Tilt were through activities that are deemed illegal in the state. Gambling itself it not actually illegal in Kentucky, home of Churchill Downs – the most popular horse racing track in the world and location of the Kentucky Derby. Establishing and operating a casino, however, is. Convincing a judge that Full Tilt’s online operations consist of a casino actually being in operation within the boundaries of the state and therefore in illegal operation is a difficult task at best in this case, while the fact that no Kentucky citizen will receive any funds from a successful lawsuit is another matter of contention amongst many people.
As a side effect of this case a ruling one way or another may set precedence that could have far-reaching consequences in other states. Should a judge rule against Full Tilt, for example, other states may also have legal grounds to seek action against online gambling establishments should casinos also be illegal within their borders. A ruling against the Governor, however, could also easily work to set legal precedence that no such lawsuits could be considered legal in either.
Currently, the Governor’s previous attempt to seize 141 gambling related domain names is still under consideration at higher appeals courts pending a final decision. This case as well has been elevated to a higher court level due to the fact that a ruling in this matter could also set precedence for state governments to take active action against legal holders of gambling related domains within their borders and prevent the establishment of even websites related simply to gambling news with no actual gambling activities on their sites to begin with. Many people expect this case to be appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court for decision making purposes; however, whether or not it makes it that far and is accepted is still debatable.
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