Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has announced he wants to shut down 141 illegal Internet gambling sites in the state in an effort to stop unregulated online gaming.

Beshear has filed a civil suit against the 141 domain names and is asking the court to force the sites to block access to Kentucky users or give up control of their domain names.

Governor Steve Beshear

"Unlicensed, unregulated, illegal Internet gambling poses a tremendous threat to the citizens of the Commonwealth because of its ease, availability and anonymity," Governor Steve Beshear said. 

"The owners and operators of these illegal sites prey on Kentucky citizens, including our youth, and deprive the Commonwealth of millions of dollars in revenue.  It’s an underworld wrought with scams and schemes."

Kentucky is the first state to bring action against Internet gambling operators that has resulted in the seizure of domain names. By seizing the domain names, Kentucky can require the illegal casino operators to block their domains from being accessed in the state.

Beshear said Kentucky loses millions of dollars a year to online gambling and unlicensed Internet gambling significantly undermines Kentucky’s signature horseracing industry, by creating unregulated and untaxed competition.

Secretary J. Michael Brown said that site owners, who register domain names, agree to terms that the domain name will not be used for illegal purposes. He said some online gambling sites currently block access to Kentucky users.

"Governor Beshear has once again demonstrated that he is willing to take bold and innovative steps to protect Kentuckians and Kentucky’s legitimate businesses," Secretary Brown said. 

"Illegal Internet gambling poses a unique threat to our Commonwealth.  For individuals – particularly our youth – it is tantamount to a virtual home invasion.  For some of our vital and most venerable legitimate enterprises, it undermines their exemplary regulatory compliance and siphons away their constituents."

Read the related followup article "A Closer Look At Kentucky’s Online Gambling Plan: Industry Angry".