Washington Wins Battle but Not War

May 29, 2008

Online gambling is still illegal in Washington State with their recent win. The ruling by a King County Superior Court Judge that enabled it to remain illegal was a blow to those that were hoping that online gambling would be legal again � but they say that they are not giving up hope.

Lee Rousso has been fighting to get online gambling made legal, and was hoping that the judge would see fit to rule in their favor. However, online gambling and poker playing will remain illegal for now. Rousso says however, that he will continue to fight and will take it all the way to the state Supreme Court if he has to.

He says that the public has been very clear about their desire to see online gambling legal, and that the state is simply working from their own desires � not those of the people. Rousso declared his intentions to continue fighting before many poker fans that had turned out at the Regional Justice Center to see what the court had decided.

The new law from Washington State makes online gambling a Class C felony that would put the offender in jail for five years and order them to pay a fine of $10,000. No one has been prosecuted for it yet, but Rousso would like to keep it that way as there is no guarantee that they won�t proceed on their threats.

The lawsuit has been in the works since last year in response to the state statute that made online gambling illegal in the state. The Poker Players Alliance is fighting the law as they say it is outrageous to treat online gambling this way � especially poker playing.





Back to May 2008 Archive.