On Tuesday, word spread across the online poker industry that the Commonwealth of Kentucky had filed a brand new lawsuit targeting the internet gambling industry. This time around, Pocket Kings, the owner and operator of Full Tilt Poker, is the focus, along with a variety of “Other Unknown Defendants.” The Commonwealth of Kentucky is seeking to recoup “gambling losses sustained by Kentucky-based gamblers between March 25, 2005 and September 25, 2009.” The significance of the four-year period is not readily clear and no dollar value is given.

The complaint once again comes from Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown (pictured at left), who is also the State’s main representative in the case involving the seizure and potential forfeiture of 141 internet gambling domain names, including those belonging to Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. Pocket Kings is identified in the court documentation as “a business entity organized under the laws of the Republic of Ireland and having a registered office located at Embassy House, Herbert Park Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland.”
Kentucky attorneys label Pocket Kings and other entities involved with Full Tilt Poker “a series of shell companies.” The 14-page filing charges that Full Tilt Poker has “purposefully and knowingly conducted commercial transactions with persons whom they knew to be located within the Commonwealth.” According to testimony in the Kentucky Court of Appeals during the domain name case, 13,000 Kentucky residents have played online poker games, or 0.3% of its population of 4.3 million according to 2009 estimates.

The documentation notes that Full Tilt takes rake from each pot and adds, “The Full Tilt Defendants, acting in concert, share in the profits from games, receive a portion of the money deposited, bet, won, or lost in the games, receive a portion of the ‘take,’ ‘take out,’ or commissions charged on money transferred from Full Tilt Poker or that is bet in the games.” Full Tilt Poker is the industry’s second largest site, trailing only PokerStars, and happily accepts players from the United States. Its team of pros includes Americans Phil Ivey (pictured at right), Howard Lederer, and Chris Ferguson.

Plenty of “Other Unknown Defendants” are given and the list is very similar to the sites targeted in the domain name case. They consist of online poker sites, online casinos, online bingo sites, and sports gambling outfits including Absolute Poker, Bodog (listed as BodogLife.com), Cake Poker, DoylesRoom, Microgaming, MySportsbook, scandal-ridden Pitbull Poker, PlayersOnly, PokerHost, PokerStars, PokerTime, Red Star Poker, Reefer Poker, RiverBelle, SportsBetting.com, Sportsbook.com, True Poker, UB.com (listed as ub.com), and WSEX.

The same language that identifies Full Tilt Poker is repeated for the Unknown Defendants. Kentucky attorneys are seeking pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, attorney fees and other costs, and any “further relief as the Court deems just and proper.” Eric Lycan of Hurt, Crosbie, and May PLLC in Lexington, Kentucky signed the court filing. Lycan also represents the Commonwealth in the domain name case and most recently presented in front of the Kentucky Supreme Court last October. The new case was filed in the Franklin Circuit Court Division II and is numbered 10-CI-505.

The statute used has reportedly come under fire for its applicability. Noted gambling and the law expert I. Nelson Rose (pictured at right) told the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper on Tuesday, “There are a lot of problems using that statute. These are extremely ancient laws that have almost never been used for 100 years or more. The times have completely changed.” So-called “losers” under the law can receive triple damages. Rose added that he thought the case would be tossed out.

When or how representatives from Pocket Kings and the Other Unknown Defendants will respond to the March 25th lawsuit is not yet known. In the background of the newly-filed case is litigation over the future of 141 internet gambling domain names, which risk forfeiture worldwide. The Kentucky Court of Appeals granted transfer of the case back to the state’s Supreme Court, which ruled in March that two trade organizations lacked standing to sue.

However, the owners of TruePoker.com have stepped forward admitting membership to the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA), which may be sufficient to prove associational standing. The seven-member Kentucky Supreme Court has yet to take on the case once again.

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