It's been a while since I've blogged, so forgive me.

The worst part about taking time off from blogging is knowing how to get back started. If a story breaks during your hiatus, then you are torn between re-hashing old news or looking like you missed the story completely. At least I've been helped by the fact that the last month has been a generally slow time for news surrounding the online gaming industry.

The biggest news of the last month has generally been coming out of two issues...

The settlement between the DoJ and PartyPoker founder Anurag Dikshit, and the seemingly never-ending saga  in Kentucky regarding the domain seizures.

Since I've already discussed the Dikshit situation, I should probably forget about it for now, although I must admit that I love typing the word "Dikshit".

Dikshit. Dikshit. Dikshit.

OK, that's enough. Let's jump right into the Kentucky story, shall we?

In case you were not aware, it all started back in September when the governor of the backwards state of Kentucky decided that he was also the governor of the Internet. Without any provocation, he filed a legal request to seize 141 gambling domains, simply because they were available in Kentucky and he didn't like the fact that they competed with Kentucky's horse racing industry. But the truly remarkable part of the story is that he actually found a judge to sign the order. Thus, by the judges decision, any domain can be considered a "gambling device".

Shortly thereafter, a number of interested parties appealed that ruling, but found their arguments useless in the face of a judge who apparently believes that the laws of Kentucky apply to the rest of the world.

But the door was still open for appeal, and hopefully a bit of common sense. The issue was taken to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which delivered it's decision last week stating that, indeed, Kentucky cannot seize Internet domain names.

Finally, a bit of common sense. The appeals court ruled against the initial decision on a number of points, and stated, "It stretches credulity to conclude that a series of numbers, or Internet address, can be said to constitute a 'machine or any mechanical or other device ... designed and manufactured primarily for use in connection with gambling,' "

But it is not all over yet. The ruling left a few loopholes for the state to continue it's quest for Internet domination.

The first is a simple appeal of the ruling. While it is unlikely that they'll be able to convince the appeals court to overturn their own decision, it is not out of the question, and Kentucky has already filed its appeal.

The second route would be for Kentucky to simply change its definition of the term "gambling device", to include Internet domains.

That's right! It's that simple! If the law doesn't agree with the governor of Kentucky, then he can just change the legal definitions to fit whatever he wants.

Hey! Do you want to change the definition of anything? Go to Kentucky.

For instance, if you decide that you want the world to be flat, then just go to Kentucky and ask them to define the word "flat" to be "a smooth, even, level (or rounded) surface".

There. Done. The world is now flat.

Hmmmmm, I wonder if I can get Kentucky to re-define the meaning of "marital fidelity" to allow me to... aww, forget it.