The iGaming industry witnessed a new approach adopted by the authorities in the never ending saga of trying to block and hinder iGaming companies from operating within their territory.

A remarkable case was dealt with recently by the Court of Appeals of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

According to KRS Chapter 528, it is a criminal offence to possess a gambling device in the advancement of an unlawful gambling activity.  The law states that gambling device includes:
“Any other machine or any mechanical or other device, including but not limited to roulette wheels, gambling tables and similar devices, designed and manufactured primarily for use in connection with gambling and which when operated may deliver, as the result of the application of an element of chance, any money or property, or by the operation of which a person may become entitled to receive, as the result of the application of an element of chance, any money or property.”

The incredulous nature of this case relates to the fact that the Franklin Circuit Court seized 141 Internet domain names on the basis that such domain names were considered as constituting “gambling devices”. Furthermore the Court ordered that these domain names are transferred by their respective Registrars to another account as instructed by the Court.

On appeal, the Court overturned the order after stating in no unclear terms that “it stretches credulity to conclude that a series of numbers, or Internet address, can be said to constitute a machine or any mechanical or other device designed and manufactured primarily for use in connection with gambling.”