From EGRmagazine.com comes word that lawyers from the state of Kentucky filed a motion add additional US citizens and companies to the list of 141 domains the state has been attempting to seize since September 2008. This is an interesting development since a decision from the Kentucky Supreme Court is expected soon from the October hearing appealing KY’s Court of Appeals decision to prevent the seizure. No names or companies were mentioned in the motion, requesting a hearing on January 20 before Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate, who granted the request for seizure. More details as they become available.

The Kentucky Supreme Court will be holding a hearing at 11am ET today regarding the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s efforts in seizing 141 domain names. A live stream of the arguments will be available on the Supreme Court site for those wanting to watch the proceedings, with updates available over at the Poker Players Alliance website. iMEGA’s site should also have their own analysis of the proceedings this afternoon.

For those interested, video of the hearing is now available below:

Mark it on your calendars (or just check back here) around October 22. The case of the Governor Beshear and the Commonwealth of Kentucky trying to claim the ability to seize 141 online gaming domains, or “gambling devices” as they were called, to keep them from accessing Kentucky residents will see the halls of the KY Supreme Court next month on an appeal from the Commonwealth.

Many months ago, a group of organizations representing internet freedoms and the rights of online gambling companies won an important appeal in the Kentucky court system, and that victory prohibited the Commonwealth from proceeding with its attempted seizure of those domains. The state promised to appeal to the Supreme Court, and that latest appeal was granted this month. Those fighting the state on the matter include iMEGA (Internet Media Entertainment & Gaming Association), PPA (Poker Players Alliance), ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), CDT (Center for Democracy and Technology, EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), Internet Commerce Association, eBay, and Network Solutions. (Can we win on number of appellees alone?)

According to iMEGA’s announcement:

The Supreme Court has set oral argument in Commonwealth of Kentucky v. IMEGA, et al for 11 a.m. on Thursday October 22, 2009 in the Supreme Court courtroom. The order allots 15 minutes for each side.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time, and we’re going to win again,” said Joe Brennan Jr., iMEGA’s chairman. “From the beginning, Kentucky law has clearly supported our position, and a win in the State Supreme Court will put the final emphasis on that.”

More of the court documents that were heavily redacted now have a bit less of a black line through them, to show Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars mentioned in the case of Douglas Rennick and the freezing of nearly $40m in funds from payment processors.

iMEGA has a copy of the documents up on their site.

The 200 companies that are to supposed to be blocked by 11 ISPs to Minnesota residents has now been published by IMEGA, which can be found here on their site . The list of 200 companies is an eclectic list of sites, because it was chosen randomly. While sites like Bodog and Full Tilt Poker are on the list, there are a few notable omissions: Absolute Poker, PokerStars, and Ultimate Bet. The list also contains sites that don’t take US customers (BetFred, Everest Poker, Interops, William Hill, among others).

A three judge Kentucky Court of Appeals panel ruled today in a 2-1 decision that the state’s attempt to seize 141 internet gambling domain names could not take place. More details can be found at Poker News Daily and the full decision on the Poker Players Alliance website. It’s expected for the state of Kentucky to file an appeal, which would move the matter to the Kentucky Supreme Court, in the very near future. More news as it becomes available.

Chalk one up for poker in Kentucky. A voice of reason came from the Kentucky Court of Appeals today, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA).

Judge Thomas Wingate previously ordered a December 3rd forfeiture hearing for the 141 gaming-related domain names that Gov. Beshear wanted seized, but the appeals court has stayed that hearing in order to conduct its own hearing on December 12th in Louisville, during which it will consider iMEGA’s petition to overturn Wingate’s original ruling. The courts will hear the iMEGA petition in conjunction with one filed by the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC), both contending that the lower court did not have the jurisdiction to order the domain seizures in the first place.

“We’re please that the Court of Appeals has given us the opportunity to challenge these seizures,” said Joe Brennan Jr., iMEGA’s chairman. “The commonwealth has tried to take these domains for their own financial gain, violating Kentucky law, exceeding their jurisdiction, and setting a terrible precedent in the process.”

Arguments are being heard today in the Franklin County Circuit Court in Kentucky regarding the attempted seizure of 141 gaming-related domain names.

At the request of Governor Steve Beshear, the Commonwealth of Kentucky filed a civil action on September 18, 2008 to order sites like Full Tilt, PokerStars, and Doyles Room seized if they didn’t willingly forfeit their domain names, and they would be transferred to the Commonwealth. The order claimed, as did Beshear in his press conference, that the internet domains were “used to promote, conduct, and/or advance illegal gambling within the Commonwealth of Kentucky.” After a continuance, the hearing is today.

According to Gambling911, the Commonwealth of Kentucky seized some of those sought-after domain names last night, including UltimateBet.com, DoylesRoom.com, and CakePoker.com. The three sites are still running as usual, but the Commonwealth could reportedly stop them at any time. Holy Massacre of the Constitution! No need for panic yet….

Attorneys defending the sites, and even some simply standing up for the rights of online poker like iMega, are in court right now trying to stop the madness. Since Dan is on a Clonie-stalking cruise in the Bahamas business trip and I am holed up in my L.A. apartment, we were unable to get to Kentucky for the hearing today. But the PPA is there and will provide updates, and Gambling911 is live blogging from the courtroom.

Updates here as they become available…

Governor Steve Beshear’s attempt to seize 141 gaming-related domain names is certainly not over in Kentucky. The Franklin County Circuit Court will hold its next hearing on the case on Tuesday, so the PPA is working with other organizations to hold a summit on Monday to put rational heads together and devise a plan to save online poker.

The emergency summit is actually being called by the Bluegrass Institute, an independent research and educational institution seeking free market solutions to Kentucky’s problems. The Bluegrass Institute will be joined by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), Internet Commerce Association, Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA), and Americans for Tax Reform.

When: Monday, October 6th at 1pm
Where: Capital Plaza Hotel in Frankfort, 405 Wilkinson Blvd

According to the PPA’s press release, the purpose of the summit will be as follows:

While the primary focus of the state’s action is online poker, the ramifications extend much farther into the entire realm of online commerce. This is a matter of the gravest importance, and the Bluegrass Institute is urging anyone with an interest in protecting internet freedom to join the protest against this egregious action.

Does Kentucky have jurisdiction to seize these domain names? What are the national and international ramifications should Kentucky succeed in this seizure order? What threat does this action make to the future of internet freedom and technological innovation? Do domain names fit the Kentucky statutorily definition of a gambling device?

Back from Barcelona and feelin’ feisty, we revisit the stupid stunts of the Governor of Kentucky in a not- so-respectful way. But don’t forget there’s other news, too… including updates on Barney Frank’s PSPA Bill which was passed a few weeks ago. Also, the status of the continuing iMEGA court case. Lastly, a brief musical look back at the CAP Convention… this show is a real “hoot”! LOL!

Been a couple of news items over the last week or so regarding the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. You remember the UIGEA. You don’t? Look over yr shoulder. It’s that big black cloud over there, heading this way . . . .

First, a U.S. District Court Judge threw out the Interactive Gaming Media Entertainment and Gaming Association’s case against the U.S. government. You might remember iMEGA had attempted to have the UIGEA’s implementation postponed until it could be determined whether or not the law was unconstitutional. (They had some other points in there, too.) The case was dismissed, but iMEGA was recognized as having “legal standing” and so will surely continue the fight.

Meanwhile, we learned this week what the American Banking Association had to say about the proposed UIGEA regulations. Recall that back in October, the feds presented their proposed regulations & asked for comments. The comment period ended in mid-December, and now the Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System are considering those comments as they prepare to “finalize” the UIGEA.

The abridged version: the ABA thinks the UIGEA is not A-OK. Gives the banks too much to do — more than they can feasibly handle. In fact, the ABA believes the UIGEA will place most banks in what they call a “compliance trap” and thus do more to hurt the American payments system than it will do to stop folks from gambling online. Read Haley Hintze’s PokerNews article & also check out the full text of the ABA’s comments over at Kick Ass Poker.

And for more from those comments to the UIGEA regs — including some of what the “webmaster of the popular blog Pokerati.com” had to say about ’em — check out Jason Kirk’s article over at PokerListings summarizing them all: “Stakeholders sound off on UIGEA regulations.”