The State Of Kentucky Signed Forfeiture Of Multiple Domain Names

As most of your probably realized, many online casinos are switching their domain name from the “.com” to the “.eu” TLD. This is happening because Kentucky’s Judge Thomas Wingate has signed the immediate forfeiture of 132 domain names. This was done on March 8th where originally 141 domains were supposed to be seized but later on reduced it to 132.

Why aren’t these other 9 being removed, well because they are either already seized by the United States Justice Department or are facing upcoming prosecutions. These domains include Bodog, True Poker, Poker Stars, Doyles Room, Ultimate Bet, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker, and Bookmaker. The last one is simply looking at a seizure of its domain name and it is Microgaming, the leading online casino software provider.

Strong Points Of Judge Wingate

Thomas Wingate has listed 12 strong points on which his domain names forfeitures stand. His main and strongest points can be found below.

• The online casinos didn’t show any sign whatsoever of implementing any kind of software to block and prevent Kentucky’s online internet users from accessing these websites.
• One of the domain’s owners must come forward and publicly proclaim himself as one of the domain’s owner. So far, none of the online casinos owners have done so.
• The online casinos in question must be approved by VeriSign so that they can redirect the ownership of every domain name to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. They will then redirect every domain name to a IP address appointed by the Kentucky state government.

Controversies

There are many controversies when it comes to the listed points of Judge Wingate because many only casino owners say that they have come forward and clearly identified themselves as the owners. However, Judge Thomas Wingat says otherwise and stated:

“No party has appeared with standing to contest the forfeiture or submit evidence. The Court finds that no lawful owner or claimant of the domain defendants has been identified or is identifiable.”

Most online casinos owners and operators do not find this fair because they have worked very hard to build everything they own and find it disgraceful and even insulting of trying to remove their most prized possession.

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