These have been very newsworthy weeks for the online gambling industry. With HR 2267 getting ever closer to repealing the 2006 UIGEA ban on online gambling, Kentucky has taken a stab at making some money before the market opens again and Americans are once again able to play at www.jackpotcity.com/uk/ or any other of their favorite casinos. PartyGaming has been generally favored as the most likely company to be the first licensed under the proposed framework for legalized online gambling in the US. This had led to Bwin, the largest online gaming operator in the world, to seek a merger with PartyGaming. This would put PartyGaming at the top of the game worldwide even without the US market, but with the US once again open to them the gap between them and their closest competition would be huge. The state of Kentucky, or at least their lawyers, have seen this as an opening to make some quick money. Kentucky has been involved in a lawsuit against iMEGA which has so far has failed to produce any results, and has turned into a legal quagmire that is costing the state far more than they had hoped. Kentucky has therefore added PartyGaming to their lawsuit. Even though PartyGaming hasn’t operated in the US since the passage of UIGEA, Kentucky law banned online casinos before this. So Kentucky is seeking damages for losses incurred by Kentucky residents during this time. This is essentially a form of legalized blackmail. With so much riding on PartyGaming’s position in the market, they can’t afford to fight this issue now and will have to pay the state.