Microgaming Website Down: A Kentucky Casualty?
On Tuesday morning, one of the online gambling industry's largest software providers, Microgaming, was not online. The dreaded "Site Not Available" appeared when anyone tried to type in http://www.microgaming.com/
For those of you following Gambling911.com over the past several weeks, news of a mass domain seizure by the commonwealth of Kentucky has dominated the headlines. That state plans to seize 141 online gambling domain names later this month per a circuit court judge's orders. Industry groups are in the process of appealing the decision.
Microgaming - for reasons unknown - appeared to be one of the most targeted of the domain names despite the fact that there is no actual gambling on their website.
Robert Foote, the lead attorney representing the state in this action, mentioned Microgaming on more than one occasion during a hearing early last month.
"He has it out for Microgaming," conveyed Joe Brennan, Jr., Founder of The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association, one of the organizations fighting the Kentucky action. "Nobody seems to know why they keep bringing them up."
It was not known whether Micrograming was in the process of obtaining a new domain name in wake of the court order or whether they were simply experiencing technical problems.
Microgaming Software Systems Ltd is a privately held Isle of Man based software development company which claims to have released the first genuine online casino in 1994 The company is one of the leading software providers to the online gambling industry, with just under 100 casinos listed on its website. Online casino operators such as the Carmen Media Group, Fortune Lounge Group, Ladbrokes, 32Red, Fairground Gaming, Vegas Partner Lounge and Golden Star Lounge are among those who use Microgaming's software.
Microgaming also has an online poker subsidiary called Microgaming Poker, which is the network used by Doyles Room. Doyles Room's domain registrant, GoDaddy.com, already announced it had turned over the website's operating certificate to the commonwealth of Kentucky.
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
