Online Casino Transfer: News - Washington Felony goes to Supreme Court

06/07/2010		Online Casino Style: News Washington Felony Goes to Supreme Court
Home History Games News Dictionary		The recent passage of a law that renders the use and participation in online casinos a felony in the State of Washington has got the Supreme Court reviewing whether the new legislature is in itself a violation of commerce laws. While the law in question was alarming in itself to the internet casino community, the Supreme Court has yet to make its decision, giving hope that perhaps it won’t come to pass after all. The law has been brough to court, challenged by the state representative to one of the country’s most prominent pro-internet gambling groups, the Poker Players Alliance, Mr Lee Rousso. The law is being defended by Assistant Attorney General Jerry Ackerman, who claimed that online gambling, by definition, cannot be regulated with the same effectiveness as land-based casinos, making them more dangerous to Washington constituents. Ackerman deftly avoided the mass of evidence disproving his position, with studies showing that technology has advanced to the point where underage gambling can be nearly eliminated, as well as fraud successfully deterred, as the lawyer continued to insist that online gambling by its very nature is unsafe. Ruosso, however, accuses the state of using the law as an underhanded way to prevent competition for its brick-and-mortar casinos. Tribal casinos continue to express their concern that the popularity of internet gambling will infringe upon their revenues as gambling havens, with the Washington politicians apparently hearing their worries loud and clear by making the practice a felony. With poker a primary game in the arguments, it seems obvious that strict regulation of poker rooms would by far be a preferred alternative to criminally trying citizens for betting online, a suggestion that seems to have gone unnoticed by the opposition. PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato threw in his two cents in a statement saying that, “This law is not about the legislature protecting the state’s citizens, but rather about protecting special interests and tribal casinos from competition.” One of the Supreme Court judges asked if the games offered through internet casinos were the same as those offered in tribal casinos, calling the fears a “generational thing.”

06/07/2010

Online Casino Style: News
Washington Felony Goes to Supreme Court

The recent passage of a law that renders the use and participation in online casinos a felony in the State of Washington has got the Supreme Court reviewing whether the new legislature is in itself a violation of commerce laws. While the law in question was alarming in itself to the internet casino community, the Supreme Court has yet to make its decision, giving hope that perhaps it won’t come to pass after all. The law has been brough to court, challenged by the state representative to one of the country’s most prominent pro-internet gambling groups, the Poker Players Alliance, Mr Lee Rousso.

The law is being defended by Assistant Attorney General Jerry Ackerman, who claimed that online gambling, by definition, cannot be regulated with the same effectiveness as land-based casinos, making them more dangerous to Washington constituents. Ackerman deftly avoided the mass of evidence disproving his position, with studies showing that technology has advanced to the point where underage gambling can be nearly eliminated, as well as fraud successfully deterred, as the lawyer continued to insist that online gambling by its very nature is unsafe.

Ruosso, however, accuses the state of using the law as an underhanded way to prevent competition for its brick-and-mortar casinos. Tribal casinos continue to express their concern that the popularity of internet gambling will infringe upon their revenues as gambling havens, with the Washington politicians apparently hearing their worries loud and clear by making the practice a felony. With poker a primary game in the arguments, it seems obvious that strict regulation of poker rooms would by far be a preferred alternative to criminally trying citizens for betting online, a suggestion that seems to have gone unnoticed by the opposition.

PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato threw in his two cents in a statement saying that, “This law is not about the legislature protecting the state’s citizens, but rather about protecting special interests and tribal casinos from competition.” One of the Supreme Court judges asked if the games offered through internet casinos were the same as those offered in tribal casinos, calling the fears a “generational thing.”