After having one of the most restrictive online gaming and poker laws in the United States on the books for years, commentary has suddenly exploded as several figures try to make a change in said law.
According to MYNorthwest.com writer Josh Kerns, Seattle radio station KIRO-FM host Dori Monson called out the Washington state government on the issue recently on his radio program. “You can smoke pot legally in Washington now, but you can’t play poker online,” Monson stated. “That is the ultimate hypocrisy.”
“It’s insane,” Monson continued. “You’ve got the state government telling us they have to raise our taxes, they need more of our money. Yet, because we have certain politicians who got bought and paid for by other gambling interest who wanted to protect their monopoly, suddenly I’m a felon if I want to play (for) free, or for five, ten, 25 cents a hand Texas Hold’em (online) in our state.”
Kerns reports that a singular individual is looking to change the laws in the state of Washington. A guest of Monson on his radio program, Curtis Woodard, was on the air to discuss the Washington Internet Poker Initiative, an organization he founded that would assist voters in changing their opinions on the subject. The group would also look to lobby politicians to repeal the draconian law that bans online poker in the state of Washington.
Woodward has proposed that, instead of banning online poker, the state should instead embrace the industry as it looks for revenues. According to Woodard and Kerns, a two-tiered system would be established that would allow for the Washington Indian tribes and licensed card rooms to offer full online casino gaming while larger sites – PokerStars is pointed out by Kerns here – would operate online poker rooms within the state. Those that decide to take part in the plan would pay what Woodard calls “a significant fee” that would cover the costs of regulation.
“This solution should please everyone,” Woodard noted. “It can and should serve as a model for other states to follow (because) it opens the door for easy interstate cooperation and the ability to share player liquidity on common platforms across state lines”
Monson, using his microphone as a bludgeon, was a bit more heated on the subject than even Woodard could have been. In finishing off his program, Monson stated, “For the legislature to make felons out of their citizens in exchange for campaign cash…it’s one of the sleaziest bits of politics that you’ll ever see.”
For some newcomers to the poker community, it may surprise them how long the Washington laws have been in effect. Passed by the Washington Legislature in 2006, the law made playing online poker in the state a Class C felony, roughly the equivalent in the state to being a child molester. The bill was sponsored by then-State Senator Margarita Prentice (after redistricting in the state of Washington, Prentice chose to retire in 2013) who, when questioned in 2010 about why the bill was being implemented and who it would affect, told poker players that they should “go pump gas” instead of playing poker online.
Although it would take a few years before the law was fully implemented (the Washington Supreme Court upheld it in 2010), the effect was almost immediate following its passage in 2006. PartyPoker, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker immediately withdrew from the market (this was prior to the enacting of the UIGEA) and even online subscription poker sites haven’t touched the Washington market. The law goes as far as to even prevent legal fantasy sports sites, such as DraftKings.com, from offering their products in the state. It must be noted that, although the law has been on the books since 2006, no one has been prosecuted in the state of Washington for violating the law, potentially because the law did not offer financing for law enforcement to be able to enforce it.
Woodward’s efforts aren’t going unnoticed. There is a slowly building movement to repeal the Washington laws as state legislators begin to understand the revenues that could be brought in by the online poker industry. Any fight towards that repeal will take an extreme amount of effort and, unfortunately, quite some time to enact.