(614) 221-3650 or (800) 353-6442
| HOME | ABOUT US | NEWSROOM | RACETRACKS & FAIRS | OHIO PEOPLE & HORSES | LEGISLATIVE | ABOUT HARNESS RACING |
| HOME | ABOUT US | NEWSROOM | RACETRACKS & FAIRS | OHIO PEOPLE & HORSES | LEGISLATIVE | ABOUT HARNESS RACING |
|
||||||||||||
| April 13, 2010 In a new move against the online gambling industry, Gov. Steve Beshear's administration is attempting to use an obscure state law to recover losses incurred by Kentuckians who placed bets through Web sites. A lawsuit filed in late March in Franklin Circuit Court names as defendants the Ireland-based Pocket Kings LTD., which operates the hugely popular Full Tilt Poker Web site, and unknown entities that operate dozens of other online gambling sites. As authorized under the law, the suit seeks to recover three times the amounts lost by Kentuckians who gambled on the Web sites. “I think it's very bizarre,” said Louisville attorney Jon Fleischaker, who represents online gambling interests. It's the second suit the Beshear administration has filed against online gambling sites in a battle that has attracted attention from Internet freedom and gambling experts around the country. If the state ultimately is successful in its legal battles, popular sites such as pokerstars.com could be shut down, not just to Kentuckians but to people around the globe. “The one thing that we can be sure of is that a continued assault on poker and attempts to restrict the rights of Commonwealth residents to play online poker is a clear waste of state government's scarce resources,” John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, said in a statement. “Two weeks ago, the Commonwealth filed suit in Franklin Circuit Court against Pocket Kings and other unknown defendants that have been operating online gaming businesses in Kentucky.” In a statement, Justice Cabinet spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin said that while the statute the latest lawsuit relies on “had its origin many years ago, it still remains the valid law of the commonwealth.” Fleischaker said an argument can be made that the transactions didn't actually occur in Kentucky because none of the Web site operators are located here. He said it would be akin to the state suing an Indiana casino to recover losses incurred by a Kentuckian who gambled there. “I think there are serious, serious questions about this,” he said. I. Nelson Rose, a gambling law expert at Whittier Law School in California, said the Beshear administration is attempting to use an old statute that is still on the books in many states. The Kentucky law says that in instances of illegal gambling the winners have no right to collect. Losers who pay up can sue to recover triple the amount of their loss under the law. The statute goes further, stating that if the loser doesn't sue within six months “any other person may sue the winner. …” Rose said that, to his knowledge, no other state has attempted such a legal maneuver and that he expects the lawsuit to be thrown out. “There are a lot of problems using that statute,” he said. “These are extremely ancient laws that have almost never been used for 100 years or more. The times have completely changed.” Rose said one problem with the lawsuit is that in the case of Full Tilt and other poker Web sites, Kentucky gamblers win and lose bets made with other gamblers, not the site. The administration attempts to address that issue in the lawsuit, saying the defendants are winners because they receive a fee for operating the game. “They have to sue the players who won the money, not the operator who took a small fee for running the game,” Rose said. Fleischaker said the lawsuit has other problems as well, such as whether the portion of the statute allowing “any other person” to sue can apply to the state, rather than a spouse or child of a gambler. A request for an interview with a Full Tilt Poker representative was declined via e-mail Tuesday. In its previous legal initiative, the Beshear administration filed suit in 2008 in an effort to seize and shut down 141 online gambling domain names — Web sites — in part because of concern that they were draining revenue from the state's horseracing industry. In a ruling last month, the state Supreme Court said that industry organizations representing the domain names do not have the right to represent anonymous Web site owners in court. But it didn't address the larger issues in the case, such as whether the state has the right to take control of sites operated outside the state. Subsequently, at least one operator has emerged, and the case appears to be headed back to the Supreme Court for consideration, said Fleischaker, who represents Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association, a Washington, D.C.-based Internet gambling trade group. The Lexington law firm that is representing the state in the domain-name case is the counsel listed on the new lawsuit. Beshear has said the move isn't costing taxpayers because the firm volunteered to take the case and gets paid only if the state recovers damages. |
|
|
|
| Copyright © 2008-2012 Ohio Harness Horsemen's Association ®. All rights reserved. OHHA, 800 Michigan Ave. Columbus, Ohio 43215-1166. 1-614-221-3650 OR 1-800-353-6442 |
