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Owner Of Gambling Web Site Comes Out In Kentucky To Comply With Supreme Court Ruling

Posted on March 29th, 2010

The lawsuit filed by the state of Kentucky more than two years ago against the 141 international gambling websites which were represented by gambling associations iMEGA and IGC could now proceed to tackle the actual issue after the technical question of legal standing has been addressed with the emergence of one of the gambling domain owners. The case has reached the state Supreme Court after having gone through lower courts and appellate courts. Last week, the state Supreme Court ruled that the gambling associations had no legal standing, therefore, at least one domain owner must show up in court to prevent the state from taking control of the domain names and bar Kentuckians access to the sites.

Web site owners have chosen to remain anonymous for fear of being arrested since they are of the opinion that the United States has no clear-cut policy on Internet gambling. However, Yatahay Limited, a member of the Interactive Media and Gaming Association (iMEGA), filed an affidavit this week admitting that it is the company that owns True Poker.com, one of the sites involved in the case and represented by iMega. The company will provide the court with all necessary documents to support its claim. Another affidavit was filed by Joe Brennan, chairman of iMEGA confirming that iMEGA has acted for and on behalf of Yatahay in the court case.

Attorneys for iMEGA have formally requested to move the case back to the Kentucky Supreme Court, so the court can rule on the more essential issues, such as the range over which the state’s legal authority extends. PokerScout.com, an independent poker Web site that provides links to information, identifies True Poker as a member of the Yatahay Network which welcomes players from the United States and is the 25th largest in the world in terms of real money ring game traffic. In a written statement, iMEGA’s Brennan said, “The owners of the” True Poker.com” domain have taken a big step on behalf of the industry and players. We’ve overcome the technicalities that gave the Commonwealth their short-lived victory.

The Court can now make a decision based on Kentucky law. Based on the language of the decision last week, we know the Court wants to do just that. We know that the law favors us, and frankly, so do the Commonwealth’s attorneys.” Several organizations have filed amicus briefs to show their support for iMEGA and IGC.