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NEWS BRIEFS
Kentucky lays out case on online casino operators
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Lawyers provided sharply conflicting views Friday about whether a Kentucky law against gambling can be enforced in cyberspace.
The Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet is trying to block access to online casinos in the state, citing a state law that bans “illegal gambling devices.”
The move could affect some of the world’s most popular gambling sites.
Lexington attorney William C. Hurt Jr. laid out the state’s arguments in a legal brief filed Friday. He contends the state has a right to seize the domain names of gambling Web sites because they constitute illegal gambling devices.
Louisville attorney R. Kenyon Meyer countered in a brief filed Friday on behalf of the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association that Kentucky doesn’t have jurisdiction in the case, that seizing domain names would be unconstitutional, and that domain names can’t be construed to be devices.
The state asked Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate last month to give Kentucky control of the domain names of 141 gambling Web site accessible by Kentuckians. Wingate hasn’t yet ruled on the request.
