Way back in September of 2008, word broke that the State of Kentucky (more specifically the Governor) was making a bid to gain control of many of the top domain names in the online poker world. The list was (and is) a Who’s Who of the poker world, including Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, Absolute Poker, and many more.
A stretch? Most definitely. But despite rulings in favor of the online poker sites, this thing simply will not go away.
After news broke this week that Full Tilt Poker is being investigated by the Department of Justice and other agencies, it was revealed today that Kentucky is upping the ante even further – They want to sue Full Tilt to recoup the loses of their 13,000 online poker players.
You heard me. They want to get their players money back.
Kinda like that bad deal you made with the older kid up the street when you were 12 (You remember, when you sold him your Hutch Pro Star BMX bike for $75.00 because you wanted to buy a Nintendo. Then your Mom flipped out because she paid like $400.00 for it…. Oh wait, that didn’t happen to you?). So of course she made you go back to the kid and ask for the MONEY BACK. Didn’t go over too well, did it? Of course not.
Despite the fact that this is clearly a stretch and more of a posturing move than anything else, it will certainly be yet another monkey on Full Tilt’s back. No word yet from Full Tilt on what their response will be (via their attorneys of course). The most interesting part of the article to me is that they claim to only have 13,000 poker players in the state that play online. 13,000? Seriously? They have more horses in the state than that!
And let’s assume that they actually WIN this deal. You’re telling me that each player will get a 100% refund and face no legal headaches of their own for playing online (an act that Kentucky clearly says is illegal)? Although I’m sure that the Governor will spin it as some sort of Stimulus Package to help spur the economy. Imagine the home game action if these donkeys actually ARE refunded all of the money that they lost on FT? Sign me up!
Let’s face it, the only winners in these sorts of contests is well, no one. These politicians really could care less about the common man and his gambling losses. They only want to tax it to fill the coffers in the State Treasury, otherwise they couldn’t care less what happens.
In the meantime, this is something that I’ll continue to monitor as an interested observer and anything relevant that pops up I’ll be sure to write about right here.
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