Judge deals blow to online poker players

Washington --Game enthusiasts tried to get gambling ban overturned

A King County judge Thursday upheld a state law that bans Internet gambling in a widely watched case filed by a Renton poker player.

Lee Rousso had argued that the 2006 law, which made Internet gambling a felony, violates the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause and is cruel and unusual punishment. After the hearing, he relayed Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts' decision to roughly 70 disappointed poker enthusiasts gathered for a rally outside the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

"That's just the way the game is played," said Rousso, an attorney. "The court of law is probably the biggest casino there is." He promised an appeal.

The crowd included men who live with their parents, women with college-age children, parents with sleeping infants, and poker celebrities who showered the crowd with autographs. Most in the group wore crimson T-shirts proclaiming, "POKER is not a crime."

"We are not criminals. We're not people off in the hinterland. We really are average citizens," said Drew Lesofski, the Washington, D.C.-based director of Poker Players Alliance. His group, which claims a million members nationwide, organized the rally. "This censorship can't be tolerated," he said.

In his lawsuit filed last year, Rousso argued that the law is a "protectionist measure" that discriminates against legal, out-of-state businesses -- namely Internet gambling companies -- by forcing local players to frequent the state's brick-and-mortar casinos and card rooms.

He pointed out that the law arose from a bill sponsored by Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, whose district contains card rooms and casinos that benefit from the law.

State Assistant Attorney General Bruce Marvin countered that Congress gives states primary authority over their own criminal laws, and that Washington's law bans online gambling regardless of whether a company operates in or out of state.

Marvin also said the state has a legitimate, federally recognized local public interest in controlling gambling. "We feel vindicated in the position we took."

Rousso, who serves as the Poker Players Alliance director in Washington state, urged players to lobby politicians. "It's incumbent on each of you to be a proud poker player," he said. "Make your voices be heard."

The 2006 statute was an amendment to a 1973 Gambling Act that banned electronic "receipt or transmission of gambling information" through such means as the radio, phone and telegraph. The law added "Internet" to those means. It also upgraded violation of the law from a gross misdemeanor to a Class C felony.

Since the statute became effective June 7, 2006, no player has been prosecuted. Last year, the Washington State Gambling Commission investigated a Seattle Internet betting site, which resulted in indictments in Louisiana, but none in Washington, commission spokeswoman Susan Arland said.

"Players do fall under (the law), but the focus of our enforcement is the Web site operators," Arland said. But she also said players should be aware that online sites are largely unregulated.

"You don't know if the games are fair, if you're going to get paid ... or if the money you gamble is used for criminal activities," she said.

Players at the rally didn't care.

"I don't know why the government would want to put me in jail, because I want to relax and play poker a couple of hours a night in the privacy of my home," said Linda McCabe, a Covington mother and real estate appraiser who said she was in her 50s.

Jonathan Scott, a 23-year-old gas station attendant from Kent, said his hobby -- which takes up 60 hours a week -- shouldn't be a crime. "If I'm hurting anyone, I'm hurting myself, and I'm just having fun," he said.

The most original argument for poker rights came from Andy Bloch, a World Series of Poker champion from Las Vegas who enjoyed rock-star status at the rally. His blackjack team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology inspired the card-counting movie "21," he said, and paid for his tuition at Harvard Law School, where he earned a degree.

"I think, therefore I am," he said. "I play poker, therefore I am human."

Seattle News Source

News Added: 16 May, 2008

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