Press Clippings

Internet casino company threatens suit against Idaho Lottery

01:17 PM MST on Friday, November 12, 2004

Adam Atchison
Idaho's NewsChannel 7

BOISE -- The Idaho Lottery Commission may soon face a lawsuit.KTVB

The Idaho Lottery sells a scratch ticket under the name "casino fortune." They could face a lawsuit from an Internet casino company that claims the game is a trademark infringement.

An Internet casino claims the Idaho Lottery is illegally using a trademarked name.

NewsChannel 7 received an email from a company called casino fortune dot-com.

The web-based casino says it plans to sue the Idaho Lottery for using the "casino fortune" name on a scratch ticket.

A spokesperon for casino fortune dot-com, says the company has operated for nine years under the same name.

The company has filed similar lawsuits in other states. We are told they have an active case in Kentucky.

Idaho Lottery Director Roger Simmons says he's confident that the scratch ticket by the same name is perfectly legal and it’s not violating any trademark laws. He says legal counsel has already assured him of that.

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Simmons has not received a notice of casino fortune dot-com's intent to sue and he believes that the company notified the media hoping we would advertise their website.

The spokesperson for casino fortune dot-com, says hits to the website have increased since Idaho debuted its scratch ticket by the same name, and casino fortune dot-com says it expects to make hundreds of thousands of dollars off the hits.

However, the spokesperson says the company isn't pulling anyone's leg with this lawsuit and a cease and desist letter will be sent to the Idaho Lottery Commission next week.

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