Flutter Entertainment, the parent firm of PokerStars, has agreed to pay the Commonwealth of Kentucky $300 million. It settles a lawsuit brought by the state against the internet gambling site a decade ago.
In 2008, then secretary of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, J. Michael Brown, filed the suit in Franklin Circuit Court. It sought to stop the unregulated, untaxed, and offshore illegal gambling activities that were operating in Kentucky. From 2007 to 2011, PokerStars collected almost $300 million in actual cash losses from thousands of Kentuckians.
Governor Beshear says that same amount awarded in the case can be directed by the general assembly into areas like education, health care, and economic development.
