Beshear Move Endangers American Online Gambling Case With RGA

After all, the case being brought before the World Trade Organization by the Remote Gaming Association and the European Union accuses the U.S. of exactly what Beshears says he is doing.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has created a hornets' nest with his attempt to usurp the domain names of online gambling sites. Companies that had felt properly insulated against American prosecution because of servers based in foreign territory now find their Internet identity at risk if the domain name was registered in the United States.

Washington-based Internet domain name registrar eNom, the world's second largest provider of domain names, has already complied with the Kentucky judge's order to turn certain domain names over to that state's Justice Department. According to Point-Spreads.com, both HighRollersLounge.com and LuckyPyramidCasino.com now list administrative contacts at the Kentucky Justice Cabinet.

While sites registered at overseas locations have said their registrars will ignore the court order as without jurisdiction, plenty of conversation is sure to spring up at this week's Internet gaming conference in Barcelona.

On Beshear's list of 141 names being sought are such popular sites as PokerStars, FullTiltPoker, DoylesRoom, GoldenPalace and GoldenCasino.

Beshear, who campaigned for governor on a platform that stressed the need for casino gambling instate, has been unable to fulfill his promises of bringing land-based casinos to Kentucky. He uses the facts that the online gambling industry has been unregulated to assert the operators are unsavory, dishonest, and dangerous.

But, even though regulation would cure those ills, it would not protect the state's horse racing industry. Beshear openly admits he decided to pursue the name grab in order to keep gambling money from being diverted from horse racing, a statement that may cause much damage to the U.S.

After all, the case being brought before the World Trade Organization by the Remote Gaming Association and the European Union accuses the U.S. of exactly what Beshears says he is doing; that is, selectively attacking the foreign online gaming industry to benefit horse racing and other U.S. gaming interests online, such as lotteries.

While the immediate benefit may be to close down a few barely competitive sites, keeping some thousands of dollars (if that much) in Kentucky, the potential penalty the U.S. might pay as a result of the RGA's ever strengthening protectionism case could be in the billions.