June 3, 2010 (CAP News Wire) – Although it has a reputation for being a liberal, left-leaning state, Washington is one of the harshest when it comes to online gambling, classifying it as a felony.
Recently, that state’s Supreme Court heard a case to regulate and legalize Internet gambling, which has gotten attention in the mainstream national media, as well.
Lee Rousso, an attorney who is challenging the state’s anti-Internet gambling laws, says “the ban is ‘illegally protectionist’ because it helps local gambling operations by banning out-of-state or out-of-country operations. Internet gambling sites are regulated, just not by the state, he said,” according to the Spokane Spokesman.
That same argument has become extremely popular in the online gaming regulation movement, and it amounts to this: If we don’t regulate online gaming, players will stay play, and the profits will go to European companies, when that money could be staying here in the country, and even the state.
The Washington state case seems to revolve around whether the Supreme Court will agree that online games are “the same card game, whether played in casinos, at the kitchen table or the computer table,” according to the article.
The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has been involved in the case, providing legal help to the pro-online gambling movement in Washington.