Kentucky Domain Seizure Deemed ‘Unconstitutional’ by None Other Than US Feds

Attempts by the Commonwealth of Kentucky to seize several dozen online gambling-related domain names have been deemed “Unconstitutional” by none other than the US Justice Department.

The motion was filed in United States Southern District of New York in the matter of United States v. PokerStars, et. al., the omnibus case header for most of that court’s “Black Friday” matters, as reported by PokerFuse.com.

A Kentucky Circuit Judge had ordered about a half dozen online gambling operators to appear last month in the Commonwealth or face losing their .com domains.  Sportsbook.com is believed to have settled with the state and no longer allows residents of Kentucky to bet online.  Existing customers based in Kentucky were shown the door last month.  SportsInteraction.com was also named in the latest filing but remains online as of this writing. 

More than a dozen big name lawyers representing the industry appeared in a Kentucky court back in 2008 when the initial complaint was filed.  A judge still found in favor of the Commonwealth’s request to seize said domains but an Appeals Court later found in favor of the Internet gambling businesses.  The legal wrangling has continued nonetheless. 

The DOJ is claiming that the Commonwealth has no ownership interest in domains the Feds froze on April 15, 2011 as part of a sweeping set of indictments against the three largest US-facing online poker rooms at the time, PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com and AbsolutePoker.com.

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com