The ruling in Kentucky that is forcing anonymous online casino operators to come forward and claim their sites or risk losing the domains is officially underway. Operators have been hesitant to claim their sites because they would be admitting to running an illegal online gambling site and may face serious fines. However, at least one of the 141 targeted operators accepting players from Kentucky has come forward and admitted to running an online poker site.
The Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of forcing operators out of hiding, making it the most forcible act that has come from the implementation of the UIGEA since banks were forbidden to process payments to and from online casinos. The reason for such drastic measures was that they would be unable to impose any fines on operators running illegal businesses unless they had a name.
Kentucky is currently the state with the harshest penalties and it will be interesting to see if other states will follow or continue to hold back on making any decisions. The US is divided in their points of view regarding online gambling. Some states would prefer to legalize the activity since US citizens are already gambling online but are doing so illegally. Other states feel that the detriments to society are too severe and legalizing it would be a big mistake.
The federal government has until June 1st, 2010 to make a decision on whether or not to legalize online gambling or the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) will go into effect permanently.
