Stars Interactive Holdings is appealing the US Supreme Court decision regarding a $1.3bn judgment against Flutter Entertainment, the owner of the PokerStars brand. The company seeks a writ of certiorari for this judgment, which is the initial step in a Supreme Court appeal.
PokerStars has been acquired by Flutter Entertainment last year. If the appeal is accepted, the Kentucky Supreme Court would then need to forward the case records to the United States Supreme Court for review. The Supreme Court justices would vote on whether or not the case would warrant a hearing.
Old case to be solved
The court case began as the state claimed PokerStars offered online gambling to 34,000 Kentucky players between October 2006 – when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was introduced – and April 2011, when its US operations were shut down by authorities.
Flutter Entertainment plc informed PokerStars gross gaming revenues generated were approximately $18m from Kentucky customers during this time period.
In the original December 2015 decision, the judge imposed an approximately $290m award, which was tripled to $870m excluding interest and applicable costs. The PokerStars operator Amaya was ordered to pay $290m for this Kentucky activity. The total was equal to the value of every losing wager made by a player in Kentucky, without deducting winning wagers.
Liz Moreno is a New Jersey based freelance writer and a huge US Sports aficionado. She keeps up to date with all things US when it comes to betting, casinos and regulations.