The powerful million plus member Poker Players Alliance has turned down an invite to work with The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA.org) regarding the situation in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The PPA and its President, John Pappas, has opted instead to work with a foreign organization, The Internet Gaming Counsel, which has no legal standing in the US legal system.
Gov. Steve Beshear said his administration has asked a Franklin County Circuit Court judge to give the state control of 141 gambling Web site domain names. Beshear said he's looking to restrict Kentuckians' access to Web sites with names that include some of the most popular gambling sites for U.S. players: bodoglife.com, doylesroom.com and fulltiltpoker.com.
A hearing is scheduled for Thursday before Judge Thomas Wingate.
"While he's at it he should ban Fox News and CNN from broadcasting in his home state," said one industry analyst who wished not to be named. "When you get down to it, this is about censorship plain and simple, worse than what is seen in Communist China and if I were living in Kentucky I would be outraged."
The PPA doesn't represent companies, just individual citizens. It was not clear if the Vancouver, British Columbia based IGC would be present at Thursday's hearing.
The Poker Players Alliance have engaged local legal counsel on the matter in addition to having members contact the Governor's office to voice their outrage.
iMEGA, which was granted legal standing in the US Courts, was in Kentucky Wednesday evening and prepared to challenge the commonwealth on behalf of its industry members.
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
