Kentucky Continues Pursuit of Quixotic Online Casino Case
Despite the state Court of Appeals reversing the order to seize 141 online casino domain names after considering only the first of a multitude of flaws in the lower court decision, Kentucky politicians announced plans to continue to pursue an unlikely verdict favoring them, advancing the case to the state Supreme Court. In a public statement issued yesterday by J. Michael Brown, Kentucky's Secretary of Justice and Public Safety, state leaders affirmed they would ask the highest court in the state to review the appellate decision regarding online gambling.Considering that the judges hearing the appeal had voided the forfeiture order before even considering issues of lack of jurisdiction over the Internet, violation of the Commerce Clause, and other Constitutional complaints against the original decision by Judge Thomas Wingate, the refusal to surrender by Governor Beshear and his henchmen may truly appear as charging at windmills.
Poker Players Alliance executive director John Pappas was among the first to note the unreasonable persistence by the goivernor, saying, "Kentucky residents should be outraged that the commonwealth is investing another minute of time and another dollar of scarce resources in this quixotic case."
Among the comments by the appellate judges were remarks about the circuitous route the state has used to pursue the case. Judge Jeff Taylor wrote in his concurring opinion that the Attorney General's absence in a case based on a criminal statute was conspicuous. Apparently Beshear could not convince everyone in his administration the possibility of winning the case.
Instead, Brown has been the figurehead leader, causing even further legal debacles for the state as it combines civil and criminal law as it pleases, justifying any means to protect instate gambling from competition by Internet casinos.
Joe Brennan Jr., chairman of the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association, the group that led the defense of Internet freedom, said of the state's appeal filing, "We’re not surprised that Gov. Beshear and Secretary (J. Michael) Brown filed their appeal. They both invested a lot of political capital in this suit. They likely feel they can’t back down.
“Their attorneys took this on a contingency fee-basis, and have reportedly sunk over a million dollars of their own money in this suit, and other suits like this that they reportedly prepared for other states,” Brennan said. “Without a win in Kentucky, it will be hard to get those other suits off the ground, and they’ll have taken huge losses on their own gamble.”
As it stands, Beshear may be the man of La Mancha... of course, without the dignity or noble cause.
