Washington State Now Considering Online Poker U-turn

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Friday, January 16th, 2015 | Written by Adam Brown

The State of Washington has the strictest attitude towards online poker in the whole of the US, and since 2006 the game has been classed as a Class C felony with those players caught gambling online facing the prospect of spending up to five years behind bars and being hit with a $10,000 fine. Admittedly, no one has yet been prosecuted under the largely symbolic piece of legislation, but the fact remains internet poker is still strictly illegal in Washington. That may all be about to change, however, if a new poker-only bill (HB 1114) introduced last week by State Representative Sherry Appleton manages to pass in the legislature.

Online Poker Ban Not Working

Currently there are 74 tribal casinos and card rooms offering live poker throughout Washington state, while anyone caught playing the game online would be considered a criminal under state law. The lopsided logic of this approach has now been called into question by Sherry Appleton’s HB 1114, and highlighting the fact Washington residents are still accessing poker sites online, Curtis Woodward from the Washington Internet Poker Initiative, explained to Online Poker Report this week:

“For too long, the state has taken a harsh stand against, and then turned a blind eye to, internet poker. This state allows us to play poker in Tribal casinos and licensed card rooms, but considers us felons if we play from the privacy of our homes on our computers. This is not only silly, it is ineffective, as players continue to play on sites operated from outside the state’s reach, and without any real consumer protections.”

Bill’s Details Left To State Gaming Commission

While HB1114 has suggested a number of proposals for regulating online poker in Washington, it should still be considered just a starting point, with further details left to the Washington State Gambling Commission to flesh out. Amongst the proposals the poker-only bill has suggested, though, is a minimum age for players of 18, the need for operators to obtain a state license, and being open to the possibility of combining player pools with other states. Interestingly there is also no mention of a “bad actor” clause, thus possibly paving the way for PokerStars to apply for an internet poker license, although if HB1114 was to gain enough votes in the legislature then the State Gambling Commission could always include such a clause later.

Consumer Protection A Priority

The online-poker bill further acknowledges that the internet plays an increasingly important role in the lives of Washington residents, who continue to go online for a variety of reasons from commerce to socializing, to playing poker. As Bill 1114 states:

“Despite a lack of regulation due to prohibition, playing poker over the internet remains popular with Washington state player. To better protect the people of Washington from potential danger from, and to maintain oversight of the systems used to carry out internet poker, the legislature finds it to be in the interest of the people to establish a regulatory framework by which entities, as authorized by the Washington state gambling commission or a tribal regulator, may offer poker games to players within Washington state over the internet.”

Poker Sites And Network Operators

An extremely important clause included in HB1114 states that “no person or entity with an ownership interest in any entity licensed to operate an internet poker network may hold any interest in a tribe or licensed card room offering internet poker”.

In other words, outside operators will run the networks which would host the skins of Washington tribal gaming interests and card rooms, whose brands would then have to compete for players. Furthermore, different licensing regimes have been proposed for network operators and consumer-facing internet poker rooms, and it is believed these innovative concepts could serve as a blueprint for other states considering legislation to adopt.

“Having the big operators serve as networks, with local skins competing for players, creates the greatest opportunity for wide participation, without splintering player liquidity. The more local interests able to participate, the fewer opponents there will be among them,” explained Curtis Woodward of the Washington Internet Poker Initiative.