If Kentucky governor Steve Beshear has his way he’ll soon be in control of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, DoylesRoom and Bodog. Don’t be fooled though, this isnt’ a major merger of some of online poker’s biggest operators, but rather a hostile takeover of the domain names - all in the name of protecting “Kentucky’s thoroughbred racing industry, our lottery and charitable gaming activities”.

Beshear, a Democrat, filed a civil suit asking a Franklin County Circuit Court to award control of gambling website domain names to the government. The total list has 141 domain names on it including online poker sites FullTiltPoker.com, BodogLife.com, AbsolutePoker.com, PokerStars.com, UltimateBet.com, CakePoker.com, DoylesRoom.com and MicroGaming.com.

The governor claims that those sites are violating Kentucky law by offering their services to Kentucky citizens. The state is asking the court to award control of the domain names to Kentucky state government to prevent those companies from doing business with Kentuckians.

“(These sites) siphon off money from regulated and legal games such as Kentucky’s thoroughbred racing industry, our lottery and charitable gaming activities,” said Beshear. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday with Judge Thomas Wingate set to preside.

The state is asking the court to award control of the domain names to Kentucky state government to prevent those companies from doing business with Kentucky citizens.

John Pappas, executive director the Poker Players Alliance issued a statement Tuesday afternoon denouncing the actions of Beshear.

“The Poker Players Alliance is outraged at the actions taken by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and the Franklin County Circuit Court to seize the domain names of Internet gambling websites.  We believe this action not only unduly restricts the freedom of Kentucky residents to play games of skill, such as poker, online, but sets a precedent for censorship of the Internet by force.

“Many of Governor Beshear’s arguments - that online poker is illegal, unregulated and without a mechanism to capture tax revenue - are false. Online poker is not illegal under Kentucky law, is regulated in its home jurisdiction and the Commonwealth of Kentucky chose not to license and regulate poker websites.”

Currently gamblers in Kentucky have access to state-regulated online horse betting, lotteries and bingo. Beshear went as far as to describe online gaming sites, specifically those whose domain name he’s after as “leeches on our communities.”

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