A court hearing scheduled for this week in Kentucky to determine whether the state can confiscate more than 100 Internet domain names being used for illegal online gambling has been continued until next month.

The date for the continuance was set for October 6, 2008.

The State of Kentucky is trying to stop online poker and other forms of online gambling by seizing the domain names of Internet gambling sites that operate in the state.

The state claims the websites provide illegal gambling to Kentuckians, and that under a law that allows the state to seize property involved in illegal gambling, it can seize the domain names of the websites to shut them down.

The shutdown effort began when Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear asked a Franklin County Circuit Court judge to give the state control of 141 domain names for gambling websites that illegally operate in Kentucky.

Among the websites targeted are three major ones that offer online poker: Doyles Room (www.doylesroom.com), Full Tilt Poker (www.fulltiltpoker.com) and Bodog Life (www.bodoglife.com.)

Although the efforts by the Bluegrass State’s governor may seem honorable–he wants to snuff out illegal Internet gamblng and protect his state’s citizenry–his actions may actually be financially motiviated: he wants to protect Kentucky’s legal gambling industry, horse racing Kentucky is the annual home of the world’s most famous horse race–the Kentucky Derby–which lots of people in the state bet on.

They also bet on lots of other horse races in the state during the rest of the year.

If these Kentucky horse bettors lose all their money playing online poker or other online forms of gambling, they won’t have as much money to bet on Kentucky horse racing.

And the State of Kentucky won’t get as big a cut of the gambling proceeds from state horse racing.

So the Gov had to act.

And he hasn’t been shy about why, telling reporters that unlawful online gambling operations, “siphon off money from regulated and legal games, such as Kentucky’s thoroughbred racing industry.”

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)