There is an effort by the State of Kentucky to legally recover damages incurred by the former operator of online poker domain PokerStars more than five years ago. A lawsuit has been launched in hopes of recovering $100 million in bonds which was a guaranteed deposit by the Amaya Incorporated firm back in 2015.
According to a post in the Lexington Herald Leader news source the deposit was a result of the lengthy appeal the company made with regard to its offerings in the state of Kentucky. Between 2006 and 2011 PokerStars allegedly violated the law known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and the judgment regarding the federal prohibition case ruled the company should pay $290 million.
The online gambling company has been dodging the bullet for some time by changing its identity a number of times. The penalty applied to case has been increased by three at the request of the state officials after Amaya changed its name to The Stars Group Inc. while continuing its legal battle in the courts. The Kentucky Court of Appeals overturned an early ruling as the Canadian based operator PokerStars was being purchased by U.K. based Flutter Entertainment for an estimated $6 billion.
Flutter Entertainment was potentially ordered to pay $1.3 billion in damages after the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling in December. The Franklin Circuit Court will hear the State’s request to recover funds during a hearing this April 19, 2021 on behalf of the punters in Kentucky who lost around $290 million while gambling on the PokerStars domain between 2006 and 2011.
A portion of the Kentucky Supreme Court’s judgement read, “Mental and physical health care systems that care for the citizens harmed by illegal gambling are supported in part by the state. Money sent to offshore gambling accounts is lost and the state is deprived of the taxes to which it is entitled. The cost to prosecute and incarcerate individuals who resort to crime to support their gambling is a huge cost on Kentucky’s strained and overextended penal system.”