During the last 24 hours, several news and gambling sites have published numerous articles and comments regarding the plan introduced by Kentucky’s Governor, Steve Beshear, which intends to block and consequently seize more than a hundred domains related to online gaming, sportsbetting and online poker companies and operators. As usual, the online gaming community didn’t wait long to react and release a series counter responses to Beshear proposal. One of the toughest reactions came from John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), a leading group that supports the legalization of online poker. In the statement released this morning, Pappas makes the following declarations:

“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.

If the Governor truly wants to implement tighter regulations, taxation mechanisms and consumer protections on Internet gambling, the PPA suggests he publicly support federal legislation by U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, H.R. 2460, which would achieve those goals.

Poker is a game of skill, a true American pastime and has a proud heritage in Kentucky. Simply because the game has evolved into the 21st Century, it should not be treated as suspect activity. Forcefully and secretly seizing control of websites that offer online poker games is not a sound public policy or a sound legal solution."