| Internet Gambling: Forfeiture Hearing Postponed, Kentucky grabs GoldenCasino.com |
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| Written by Thomas Jensen | |||||||
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Thursday, 25 September 2008
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 While the Kentucky Internet Gambling Domain Name forfeiture hearing before Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate has been postponed until Friday at 3:30 PM EST, Point-Spreads.com has learned that Oregon registrar PublicDomainRegistry.com turned over the domain name GoldenCasino.com to the state of Kentucky much to the delight of Governor Steve Beshear. Michael Brown on behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the current administrative contact for the domain name in WHOIS searches. This is the third domain name that the state has secured.Popular registrar eNom had turned over two online gambling domain names LuckyPyramidCasino.com and HighRollersLounge.com on Tuesday. Point-Spreads.com broke the news on Monday morning that the state of Kentucky was attempting to seize 141 internet gambling domain names sending the sector into panic while they were traveling to Barcelona to attend industry conferences. Several top brands that are in jeopardy include GoldenPalace.com, WSEX.com, SportsBetting.com, FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com CakePoker.com, DoylesRoom.com and many others. "We finally got a hold of the case file," The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association President, Edward Leyden, told Gambling911 Thursday morning. His organization is representing the industry. "This was filed in secret. It was a sealed case file. This is why nobody knew about this matter." Gambling911.com also reported that Dinsmore & Shohl LLP will be appearing on behalf of the industry. Jon L. Fleischaker will be representing the matter. iMEGA was previously working with another law firm but due to a conflict of interest, selected Dinsmore & Shohl, which is considered the most prestigious law firm in the commonwealth. This will be a wake up call for internet and e-commerce companies providing services to the United States. If the state of Kentucky is successful in the forfeiture hearing tomorrow afternoon, United States based registrars will certainly comply with transferring the online gambling domain names over to Kentucky paving the way for additional domain names being confiscated beyond the 141 on the initial list. The matter has several people from outside the internet gambling sector monitoring the outcome of this action. This story has spread across the Internet, well beyond just the online gambling sphere. A series of Internet tech websites linking to updates on the Gambling911.com site resulted in tens of thousands of new visitors. Gambling911's server had crashed this afternoon as a result of the enormous traffic surge. "Anyone with even a remote interest in the online sector are gravely disturbed by what is happening in Kentucky right now but thankfully we (the industry) are well represented by the most powerful law firm in that state," said Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com's founder and publisher. Fleischaker is Chair of the Communications and Media Law Practice Group. Jon is the Managing Partner for the Louisville Office and he serves on the Management Council. Jon has more than 30 years of experience in media law and First Amendment cases, actively involved in representation of newspapers and broadcasters dealing with publication issues. He has been the most visible attorney in Kentucky in dealing with First Amendment concerns. Jon also has extensive employment litigation experience, including class actions and individual cases. In addition to numerous appellate cases, he also has participated in 99 cases in the U.S. District Courts.                        |
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