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Washington State Supreme Court Upholds Internet Gambling Ban

Posted on September 27th, 2010

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Friday morning saw the Supreme Court of the state of Washington issue a unanimous ruling which denied an appeal to reverse a decision by the state to ban any form of gambling on the internet. Two lower state courts had already come to this conclusion, but several groups appealed it, and now the Supreme Court upheld it, with several sectors, including professional poker players vowing to fight the decision in the Legislature of the state. Richard Sanders, one of the Supreme Court’s Justices, wrote the opinion, with the backing of a 9-0 vote. The decision was in response to the appeal presented by Lee Rousso, a lawyer from Seattle who was revealed to also play online poker. Atty. Rousso challenged the law of the state on grounds that it allegedly violated a portion of a clause of federal commerce guidelines that sets guidelines on businesses in the state. In the decision, Sanders described that Rousso made claims in his challenge that the state law only brought interstate and international commerce further burden.

The Sanders decision states: “The question before this court is not whether Internet gambling, including playing poker on-line, should be illegal. That determination is reserved to the legislature, and the legislature addressed the issue by enacting and amending RCW 9.46.240, which criminalizes the knowing transmission and reception of gambling information by various means, including use of the Internet.” The ruling adds that since anything connected to gambling information, including the receipt and distribution of it is illegal, then the state of Washington is effectively banning internet gambling. Moreover, the ruling claimed that it was the legislature that enacted the ban, and it is not the function of the judiciary to question its wisdom. Moreover, the court does not have the power to make its own study of the pros and cons that would result from regulating, banning or openly allowing gambling on the internet, since this would step into the functions of the legislature.

The ruling authored by Sanders also analyzed in detail of what was referred by the author as “dormant commerce clause.” He also included discussions on other federal legislation related to the decision, including 2006’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and 1961’s Wire Act. Sanders further asks why the state ban, as claimed by Rousso, discriminates against interstate commerce, as he claims that the law “equally prohibits Internet gambling regardless of whether the person or entity hosting the game is located in Washington, another state, or another country.” Effectively, he stated that it is the prerogative of the state to apply different regulations to a business as it sees fit. Also, sanders does not believe that the state law protects the actual physical casinos because all businesses are banned from having electronically transmitted bets, except horseracing, which the state and federal laws do not consider gambling.

For the defeated side, this is not the end, though. The Poker Players Alliance, with its 20,000 members in the state alone, issued a press release saying its fight against the ban on online gaming is far from over. A portion of the group’s statement read, as written by its chairman, former U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato, read: “We are extremely disappointed in the State Supreme Court’s ruling given the clear evidence that the state legislature never sought to regulate Internet poker as it does in-state bricks and mortar card rooms and internet horse racing, but instead simply banned internet poker and, even worse, criminalized the players. This law is still a mistake, and we will continue to fight to have it overturned.” The PPA last May was one of the groups that gave a testimony in support to the appeal of Rousso. For his part, Rousso, who expressed solidarity with the hundreds of PPA members gathered outside the Supreme Court building, stressed for the unified effort of the whole body to make things work. The PPA plans to continue their crusade by working with lawmakers both within the state and in Washington, D.C. for legislation in favor of regulating and licensing online poker be passed.