Kentucky Reign: state-owned gambling domains.

• Author: Weigel, David
• Position: Citings - Brief article

IN 2007 Democrat Steve Beshear was elected governor of Kentucky after pledging to expand state-run gambling. Once in office, Beshear found that competition from online gambling was a huge obstacle. So in September 2008, his state filed a civil suit against absolutepoker.com, fulltiltpoker.com, goldencasino.com, and 138 other websites for exploiting its citizens. The Bluegrass State's demand: Block access for Kentucky-based gamblers, or we'll take over your domain names.

The Interactive Media Entertainment Gaming Association filed a brief arguing that seizing the names would violate the Constitution. The state insists its aims are more modest. "Our goal has never been owning those domain names," said Jennifer Brislin, a spokesman for Kentucky's Justice and...