New Bill to Legalize Online Poker in Washington

Washington, the only state in America where playing poker is a crime punishable by jail, will hopefully authorize and legalize online poker in 2015.

House Bill 1114, culmination of the efforts by Curtis Woodard, was introduced late last week by Rep. Sherry Appleton. Curtis said that the state allows people to play poker in Tribal casinos and licensed card rooms, but when they play from the privacy of their homes state considers that to be a crime. He finds it unreasonable and ineffective because players continue to play on sites outside the state and without any real consumer protection.

Curtis pursued Appleton as a sponsor because they have been fighting the same battle since 2006, when the online poker was prohibited. Fortunately no one has ever been convicted and jailed in Washington State for playing poker but playing cards on an offshore websites is popular among its residents.

The bill states: “Despite a lack of regulation due to prohibition, playing poker over the internet remains popular with Washington state players. 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.”

The proposed bill also explains that a person creating an internet poker account must be eighteen years of age or older and that although players can create an account from any location, they must be physically located within the borders of the state of Washington at the time of play. Persons under the age of eighteen may play bingo, raffles and amusement game activities only as provided in commission rules.

Three states in the country, Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware, have sanctioned poker industries which led to lower revenues from the activity so the states are going to need to partner up to create the liquidity for online poker. The bill said that where it's possible, the governor may enter into multistate agreements allowing for shared player liquidity across common platforms.

Hopefully in 2015, residents of Washington will be able to play poker from the privacy of their homes and not be afraid of getting convicted or jailed.