UK gambling giant Flutter Entertainment is reeling after Kentucky’s highest court ruled the company owed the state over $1.2b in damages stemming from its PokerStars brand’s legacy operations.

On Thursday, the Kentucky Supreme Court voted 4-3 to reinstate an $870m judgment issued in 2015 against PokerStars’ then-owner Amaya Gaming by Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate. The sum represented a trebling of the $290m judgment Wingate originally imposed against Stars.

The judgment followed a civil suit brought by the state against a host of online gambling operators deemed to be serving Kentucky bettors without its permission. Some operators cut deals with the state but Stars, then controlled by Isai Scheinberg and his son Mark, decided not to knuckle under.   

PokerStars was later acquired by The Stars Group (TSG), which in 2018 celebrated a Kentucky Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the lower court’s judgment. However, the state vowed to appeal, leading to Thursday’s bombshell announcement.