Last year, Governor Steve Beshear and the state of Kentucky attempted to seize the domain names of 141 online gambling sites. The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) and the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) immediately filed a petition to block the seizure of those domains. Under current state statutes, online gambling isn’t even illegal in the state of Kentucky, though of course laws can be interpreted a variety of ways, which is why lawyers exist.

Yesterday, the state Supreme Court ruled against the 141 gambling sites. In the ruling, the court stated that the domain names themselves cannot serve as an entity and court and they must be owned by a person or entity. With no owners in court, iMEGA therefore did not supply a member of the domain names. In other words, the court threw out the petition because iMEGA’s clients did not appear in court.

As a result of this ruling, the state of Kentucky can once again attempt to seize the online gambling domain names. If they do, however, it’s likely that iMEGA would file another petition. It is the belief of iMEGA that the Supreme Court’s ruling is not final and that if they can produce an owner of one or more of the domain names, the Court would be willing to hear their case.

Joe Brennan, Chairman of iMEGA, stated that “the Court clearly indicates they agree with our arguments and are inviting us to re-file so that the technicality of the standing issue can be resolved.” iMega plans to re-file and when the Supreme Court reaches a decision, we’ll let you know.

The Senate President, David Williams, attempted to make things more clear. Like the rest of the country, the Bluegrass State is hurting financially, and any extra revenue would be helpful. Many see putting slot machines in the state’s many horse race tracks as a way to generate much-needed revenue. Some lawmakers, however, are opposed to the idea.

Williams, the leading Republican in the Senate, had a novel idea: let the voters decide. After all, the state, like the rest of the country, is supposed to be a Representative Republic, after all, which means that the people are supposed to get a say on what laws are passed.

Williams introduced a bill that would have called for a state-wide vote on the slots. The bill was blocked by the Senate Democrats, which makes sense. To Democrats, there’s no idea crazier than listening to the people. I mean, if you let constituents decide things, they may not decide what you want! And then what?

The House had previously passed a bill for gambling expansion, but with Williams’s bill shot down in the Senate, it’s back to the drawing board. Many of the Democrats who voted against the bill are actually for putting slots in the race tracks; however, they don’t want the people to vote on it for fear that the idea would be rejected. Now they may end up with nothing.