Written by :
Published on :
As of late Monday night, DoylesRoom.com, UltimateBet.com, CakePoker.com and a handful of other online gambling related domain names registered through GoDaddy.com were still live.
The fear: At any given moment, the commonwealth of Kentucky could pull the plug on these sites.
Gambling911.com first reported that shortly after Monday a team of lawyers representing the online gambling industry in a Kentucky domain seizure case were alerted that GoDaddy.com had relinquished these domains to the commonwealth just hours before a hearing was to take place on the matter. Attorneys representing Kentucky notified the Internet Media Entertainment & Gaming Association that GoDaddy turned over the certificate for each of these domains to the commonwealth court.
The Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet had been attempting to block Kentuckians' access to online casinos, including some of the most popular in the world. State officials claim state law gives them authority to take "illegal gambling devices," in this case domain names.
Kentucky officials have asked Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate to forfeit control of 141 gambling Web sites to the state. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday.
Groups opposed to Gov. Steve Beshear's ongoing civil lawsuit that sought control of selected Internet domains believed they had a strong argument against such efforts.
Dozens of lawyers were anticipated to represent the online gaming industry on Tuesday morning at 9:30 am EST at a scheduled hearing.
Gambling911.com is in Kentucky now and will be attending the hearing along with the Poker Players Alliance and iMEGA.
Rick Muny, The Kentucky State Director of the Poker Players Alliance, advised Gambling911 that state members had sent the Governor more than one thousand letters voicing outrage over his actions.
It is strongly advised that customers of affected poker sites contact the said website to find out if they have an alternative web address. We cannot stress enough the seriousness of this matter and how players may be unable to access these websites at any given moment.
----
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
