Lobby groups upbeat after Kentucky egaming court battle

THE GAMING INDUSTRY lobby groups fighting the Kentucky online gambling website block have slammed Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s arguments in court.

The Kentucky Supreme Court yesterday heard oral arguments from the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) and the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) in the US state the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s legal challenge to the Kentucky Court of Appeal’s decision in January to block its seizure of 141 domain names.

iMEGA’s attorney, Jon Fleischaker, attacked Governor Beshear’s efforts to block state residents’ use of internet gambling web sites as “intellectually dishonest” and said that “they made up a process that is totally lacking in due process.”

In a statement issued after the hearing, the chief executive of poker advocacy group the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), John Pappas, said the PPA had been “very pleased” with the arguments presented.

Pappas said: “I strongly believe we will prevail. If the Commonwealth [of Kentucky] is truly interested in protecting consumers, it should put its energy in licensing and regulating online poker ““ which would also bring in millions in revenue ““ versus attempting to banish online poker through such a bold, broad and unlawful seizure.”

Kentucky governor Steve Beshear is challenging the Kentucky Court of Appeal’s decision in January to block the seizure, after it rejected his claim that Kentucky players and the gambling sites had violated state law and held that the judge who issued the original seizure order in September 2008 had misapplied the state’s gambling devices law.

Pappas said the PPA hoped to work with Kentucky lawmakers “on the common sense solution of licensing and regulation” following a positive ruling from the Kentucky Supreme Court.