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Kentucky Online Gambling Lawsuit Update: Continuance Issued

A continuance was issued today in the case of Commonwealth of Kentucky versus 141 Internet Domain names in which Judge Thomas Wingate will make his decision to whether or not the domain names should be liable and confiscated.  The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) presented the Franklin Court Circuit with an Amicus Curiae (Latin for ‘friend of the court’ - a 3^rd party that doesn’t have a direct personal stake in the case but can have a special interest in its outcome).

The PPA was delighted that an allowance was made for the seizure of the domain names case to be fully reviewed in order for both parties to properly argue the issue. There are over one million members in the PPA’s organization, 13,000 of whom live in Kentucky; they were out in full force expressing their voice on the courthouse steps. This is the first time the PPA has been involved in running interference between the gambling industry and a court order with this brief.   In the brief, the PPA provided the Court with an Exhibit that included the background, analysis and skill elements of poker; it was stated that poker is a legal game of skill and not an illegal game of chance.

Their argument states that “Kentucky has adopted the Predominance Test to determine whether a game is a lawful skill game or an unlawful chance game”. Concluding the brief was this statement, “In this case, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has not provided any evidence that poker as played on any internet site listed in the Complaint is not a permitted game of skill under Kentucky law.  Without such evidence, Plaintiff has no reasonable chance of success on the underlying claim of illegality that would support its likewise spurious basis for forfeiture of the domain names.”

Two of the 141 Internet sites listed in the case, LuckyPyramidCasino.com and HighRollersLounge.com have already ceased their operations. Many other have begun redirecting their domain names to .co.uk sites.  It is also being reported that GoldenCasino.com has blocked access to players residing in Kentucky.

The following are key points presented in the PPA’s Amicus Brief:

• Extensive research citing expert opinion that poker is indeed a game of skill;

• References to academic, gaming and artificial intelligence experts citing the fact that skill is an essential element to winning at poker, be it against a human or a computer;

• Unequivocal consensus among experts that in the long run a skilled poker player will beat an unskilled poker player;

• Kentucky state law asserts that “a contest or game in which eligibility to participate is determined by chance and the ultimate winner is determined by skill shall not be considered gambling”;

• Under Kentucky law, poker is a lawful game of skill because the facts can easily sustain a finding that skill of the player predominates over chance in determining outcome;

• The current case provides no evidence to suggest that any of the poker games played on any of the 141 websites in question are based on chance as opposed to skill;

• Cases in other states as well as a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) letter verify that skill is the dominant factor in the game of poker; and

• The case raises First Amendment free speech issues in restricting residents’ access to poker websites that contain news, blogs and forums as well as the ability to play poker.

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