Critic of Kentucky Gambling Case Speaks

A leading legal authority in Internet gambling has come out with some of his thoughts on the recent Kentucky ruling by Judge Thomas Wingate.

State seizures
141 Internet gambling domains were recently seized and there are moves afoot to have the assets of these "illegal gambling operators" forfeited to the state. In a move that was instigated by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, Judge Wingate upheld his end of the bargain and went ahead with the seizures.

Prof. Rose gave Poker News Daily his opinion on what many industry pundits consider to be a groundbreaking ruling. From his perspective Rose feels that the seizures are "silly". To be precise he feels that a Kentucky judge shouldn't have the authority to seize a worldwide domain name.

But Professor Rose wasn't about to stop there. His feelings on the state seizure of domain names extend to the judge's definition of contraband activities. Judge Wingate, in his anxiety to support the Kentucky's governor, considered the online gambling activity as a violation of gambling law. Rose feels that the judge was wrong in assuming that Web names are equivalent to slot machines - or as the court put it - "gambling devices."

Professor Rose went on to explain that under Judge Wingate's terminology, a car, money or even a house may be considered a gambling device. It borders on the extreme and sets a dangerous precedent. Based on this reasoning Professor Rose thought that the judge would have overturned the case.

Positive suggestions
Rose would rather the judge dismissed the case citing that Kentucky law has no jurisdiction over domain names. On the issue of one of the online gambling companies - iMEGA - going to the court of appeals Professor Rose was particularly pragmatic. He continually stresses the need for giving adequate legal notice to the owners of the gambling concerns in order that they have ample time to find qualified legal counsel.

Rose feels the Appeals Court would more than likely find too many legal problems in this issue and eventually overturn the ruling. If all else fails and companies want to continue online gambling then Rose suggests they simply exclude Kentucky IPs from their allowable gambling domains.