Kentucky Sues For Gamblers' Losses
Written by Brian Garst, Posted in Liberty & Limited Government
The state of Kentucky is suing to recover the losses of Kentucky citizens who played online poker:
I. Nelson Rose, a gambling law expert at Whittier Law School in California, said the Beshear administration is attempting to use an old statute that is still on the books in many states.
The Kentucky law says that in instances of illegal gambling the winners have no right to collect. Losers who pay up can sue to recover triple the amount of their loss under the law.
The statute goes further, stating that if the loser doesn’t sue within six months “any other person may sue the winner. …”
This is an outrageous assault on personal freedom. It’s not the first time Kentucky as tried such a thing. In 2008 the state filed suit to protect their own gambling racket:
In its previous legal initiative, the Beshear administration filed suit in 2008 in an effort to seize and shut down 141 online gambling domain names — Web sites — in part because of concern that they were draining revenue from the state’s horseracing industry.
Is this really how the people of Kentucky want their government to spend its time and resources? I think the voters need to send these meddling nannies packing.
Hat-tip: Overlawyered
I serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.