Playing by the house rules: state files lawsuit in attempt to control over 100 illegal gaming Web sites

Photo Illustration by Ed Matthews | Staff
Online poker players, be warned. Your favorite Web site may no longer be available as the result of an ongoing lawsuit against over 100 online gaming companies.

The state of Kentucky seized the domain names of 141 illegal gambling Web sites as a result of a ruling last week in Franklin County Circuit Court, perhaps making Kentucky the first state to take such a step against online gaming.

All are still operational, although that may change after a hearing Thursday, said Jennifer Brislin, a spokeswoman for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.

During Thursday’s hearing, Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate may determine whether or not the state would need to officially take control of the sites.

The Justice and Public Safety Cabinet filed the suit to force sites to block access to Kentucky users or relinquish control of their domains, said Brislin.

“The endgame is to make sure to protect what is Kentucky’s signature industry, thoroughbred racing, and stop this illegal gaming,” she said. “…It poses a very real, very valid threat to racing and other forms of legal gaming.”

Along with control of the Web sites, the Justice Department may also seek between $40 million and $170 million in income lost because of illegal gaming, Brislin said.

The suit has the full support of Beshear’s office, the governor said in a statement Monday. Beshear, who supported a failed push to put an amendment placing casino gaming on the November ballot, cited the “tremendous threat” illegal online gaming poses in his statement.

“The owners and operators of these illegal sites prey on Kentucky citizens, including our youth, and deprive the Commonwealth of millions of dollars in revenue,” Beshear said “It’s an underworld wrought with scams and schemes.”

UK student Brad Cawood said he didn’t know one of his favorite Web sites, fulltiltpoker.com, was on the illegal gaming list. He found the site on ESPN’s Web site, which helped him think that it was completely legal, he said.

“I just assumed most of the ones are legal,” he said. “Most of the ones that are illegal won’t let you gamble in the United States.”

Cawood, a secondary education junior, said he doesn’t worry about finding a new place to play online because there are so many Web sites available.

“It’s probably better that the ones that are illegal get shut down because of (potential) problems cashing out,” he said. “So I wouldn’t be upset at all.”

Critics of the shutdown, however, call the seizure a repression of Americans’ rights.

Kentucky’s seizure “not only unduly restricts the freedom of Kentucky residents to play games of skill, such as poker, online, but sets a precedent for censorship on the internet by force,” said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, in a statement Tuesday.

The sites were chosen based on a government investigation that found illegal Web sites that could be accessed using a Kentucky address, Brislin said. Some of those Web sites may not be directly accessible to users through the URL, but may be through links from other gaming sites.

Kentucky is not trying to cut off URL access beyond the state, and only wants to keep illegal activity out, Brislin said.

“We have no interest in anything but keeping this illegal activity outside of the borders of Kentucky,” she said. “Our goal is not to impose the laws of Kentucky anywhere else but inside the borders we expect our laws to be respected.”

UK media law professor Richard Labunski called the state’s seizure a “dangerous trend” that attempts to regulate Web sites that have ownership in other states.

“This really ought to be a national discussion — the Internet is national and international,” Labunski said. “It’s a troubling development when the state takes it upon themselves.”

Shutting down illegal Web sites will be a benefit to the state because illegal activity should be stopped, said

Mike Stone, the executive director of the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling. However, the non-profit council doesn’t take a position on whether people should gamble, Stone said.

However, he did say studies have shown that young people are more likely to gamble than their older counterparts.

“Younger people have more interest in activities than those who are 60 or 70 years old,” he said. “It’s a natural progression in life — the young are more likely to take risks. Gambling is one of those exciting activities.”

Chemistry senior Jonathan Rogers described online gaming as similar to drugs or alcohol, saying getting addicted is more about the person’s personality than the substance. Rogers said he almost never loses money, usually stopping when he breaks even.

Shutting down illegal sites may be a benefit, Rogers said, but it probably won’t affect him much. So many sites exist he could switch to another one.

Overall, Rogers said he is not too worried about the shutdown’s impact on his gaming.

“I think the things that are illegal are maybe not as regulated as the things that are legal,” he said. “So, it bothers me, but not enough to stop.”

Click to download the list of sites