Kentucky Supreme Court Upholds $1.3B Judgment Against PokerStars

The Kentucky Supreme Court has affirmed its decision in the case of the State of Kentucky v. PokerStars and its current corporate parent, Flutter Entertainment, leaving in place a judgment against the company now worth $1.3 billion. The initial 2015 judgment rendered in a Franklin County (KY) court found PokerStars owed the state roughly $290 million for offering its online services to Kentucky-based players from late 2006 to April of 2011.

The presiding judge treble the damages to $870 million under the terms of one of the state’s 19th-century anti-gambling codes, and accumulated interest has since swelled the total claimed by the state to its current total. Immediately following the ruling issued on Thursday, the office of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced that it would move to garner $100 million deposited by PokerStars in 2016 as earnest money against the initial 2015 judgment.

Flutter issued a brief statement in the wake of the rehearing being denied, saying it is disappointed by the denial of its rehearing petition and continues to strongly dispute the basis of this judgment.