Kentucky A Little Late Into Online Gambling Enforcement Game

The state of Kentucky has come up with a plan on how to stop the illegal online gambling that is taking place. The only problem with the plan is that it comes at a time when the American government is moving closer to regulating Internet gambling.

A Franklin County Circuit judge ordered domain names of illegally operating online gambling site to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. His goal was to stop unauthorized Internet gambling.

So now, taxpayer money will go towards gathering these names and shutting down operations that will most likely be recognized as legal in the near future in the United States. The move shows just how behind the times that Americans are when it comes to Internet gambling.

Representative Barney Frank had a Bill passed in the House Financial Services Committee last week that is expected to go to a full House vote sometime this week. If approved, the Bill would basically overturn the ill-advised UIGEA and give a list of what is and is not a legal form of online gambling.

For two years, since the UIGEA went into law, no state has been able to come up with a plan on how to enforce it. Now that it appears the government is heading towards online gambling regulation, the state of Kentucky is ready to act on the UIGEA.

"Unlicensed, unregulated, illegal Internet gambling poses a tremendous threat to the citizens of the Commonwealth because of its ease, availability and anonymity," said Governor Steve Beshear.

This statement is in direct contrast to the one handed down by a judge at the end of last week. The judge, while ruling on a $20 million lawsuit against six Atlantic City casinos, ruled that gambling is not an inherently dangerous activity.

To go by the judge's ruling, would it then be fair to deduce that the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky are under greater danger to fall into a problem gambling pattern than the people of New Jersey?

The danger in the state of Kentucky is that their leaders continue to turn a blind eye to the fact that Internet gambling will take place no matter how many of these proclaimed "illegal sites" they shut down.

Most Americans who gamble online are doing so with online sites that are based outside of the U.S., and by Kentucky shutting down the ones that re inside the country, they are simply redirecting online gamblers to spend their money in other countries outside of North America.

The economy worsens, taxpayer money continues to go to causes that are unnecessary, and the money used will all be lost in the near future when the American government begins to regulate the online gambling industry. That sounds like a plan the state of Kentucky and their blind leaders should be proud of.

September 22, 2008
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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