Ruling Over Seized Gambling Domains In Kentucky Expected In January

Gambling News - January 13th, 2010 - Written By Glen

A new year has brought new possibilities, which include the possibility of a ruling over the case of the nearly 140 seized gambling domains that had been taken by the state of Kentucky.

In 2008, two years after the original signing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear had attempted to shut down 141 online gambling sites. Unregulated online gambling sites may not operate within the United States, and Beshear had been aiming to force the sites to block access to residents of Kentucky. Should the sites refuse to block Kentuckians from accessing these sites, the state would demand the sites relinquish control of their domain names.

While it has thus far taken years in order reach some form of conclusion, it is expected that a decision will be made by January 21st, 2010. The Kentucky Supreme Court is now in charge of this decision, bringing the issue to the highest judicial authority in the land.

Each time the issue had begun to solve itself, a new hook had dragged the issue further out into the proverbial surf. Much trouble has arisen from the issue, as many proponents of online gambling have frowned upon Beshear's move.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has made online gambling very difficult. Unfortunately, like many other bills, the UIGEA had been written in such a way that much of it was open to interpretation. Horse racing gambling had been left out of the UIGEA's list of illegal games, and this is the most common form of gambling taking place over the Internet on Kentucky. There are many regulated versions of online horse gambling in the state, though many of these gambling domains have been related to online poker or casino Online Gambling, rather than horse racing - an industry on which Kentucky thrives.