Legal Online Poker Washington State
- Poker Rooms In Washington State
- Video Poker Washington State
- Washington State Online Poker Sites
- Is It Legal To Play Online Poker In Washington State
Nov 09, 2019 Although online poker isn’t an option for poker grinders in Washington, this is only a minor inconvenience. Just take a look at the Poker Atlas map of rooms in. While Washington state has a host of Indian casinos within its territory where you can go and play poker, when it comes to online gaming, poker rooms on the internet fall into a different legal category. Washington is one of one a couple of States to actually have a law saying that online gambling is illegal. Washington Legal Gambling Age is only 18 meaning that Legal Gambling in Washington can be enjoyed earlier. The Legal Gambling Age in Washington is observed at Washington Gambling parlors, and legal online gambling in Washington. Clearly, the online poker WA legal landscape is way less favorable to poker players than other states. However, private - or “social'”- poker games fall under current state law and it is hoped that Washington will reconsider its position on online poker Washington websites in time.
- Washington state legislature contains a statute, RCW 9.46.240, that outlines the definition of the law that pertains to online gambling in the state of Washington. The legal consequences for breaking this law could be up to a class C felony. This might mean some fines for the player if they are caught.
- Washington online poker has had some attempts at being regulated, but WA is far from becoming one of the legal online gambling sites. The biggest off-line option for exerting betting are the tribal land based casinos, with more than 20 tribes running almost 30 casino businesses.
- Is Online Poker Legal In Washington? Online poker rooms were the first gambling outlets to stop serving players in Washington. Some of the world's largest online poker rooms pulled out of the Washington market after challenging the state's law banning online gambling under the pretext that online poker is a game of skill rather than a game of chance.
The state of Washington has not exactly minced words with regard to internet gambling. It is one of few states that explicitly forbids online poker and casino games, but it goes even further to deem offering or playing games online a criminal offense. The state code and Washington State Gambling Commission make those points very clear.
For that reason, most gaming websites offer only free-play gaming there. PokerStars, for example, only offered play-money online poker to residents logging in from Washington so as to avoid any legal improprieties in the United States market.
However, that all recently changed.
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Fallout from Big Fish Loss
A woman in Washington logged on to Big Fish, an online casino that allowed game play with virtual chips and required no real money to play. During her time on the site, she spent more than $1,000 buying more play-money chips, which she deemed “something of value” and in violation of state law.
Cheryl Kater’s original case against the then-owner of Big Fish, Churchill Downs, was thrown out of a US District Court in 2016, but her appeal to the Ninth Circuit garnered a different result. Big Fish’s play-money games were ruled illegal per Washington’s laws because virtual chips allowed her the chance to keep playing when her virtual chips were gone, thus making those chips “something of value.” The case was remanded back to the US District Court for handling.
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ASX listed gambling giant Aristocrat paid $1.3 billion for Big Fish last year – new acquisition already facing trouble in the US courts: https://t.co/yRAun4J2XV
— Stephen Mayne (@MayneReport) April 11, 2018
That prompted PokerStars to leave the Washington market. Many in the industry were skeptical of the move and claimed it to be premature and an overreaction.
More Lawsuits Filed
After the initial lawsuit against Big Fish and its ruling from the Appeals Court, four more lawsuits were filed during the first two weeks of April. All of the cases involve free-play casino game websites, and the sites on the defendant list are Huuuge Games, Playtika, High 5 Games, and DoubleDown Interactive.
Poker Rooms In Washington State
The new lawsuits follow the same pattern, as they all claim that the play-money games violate Washington laws regarding gambling for “something of value.” The games offer a certain number of play chips in a time period – per day, for example – and players who lose all the chips before they are replenished at no cost sometimes may choose to pay real money for those play-money chips. The Big Fish case ruled that the need for more chips to play gives value to those chips.
According to GeekWire, plaintiffs in the cases are seeking class action status, in addition to damages and a ban on the companies’ practices of offering chips for money.
Regarding damages, one plaintiff spent $20 on the virtual chips, though another spent approximately $1,000, similar to the woman who filed the Big Fish case.
One of the lawsuits claims that the free-play games are too similar to slot machines in casinos, which is why governments limit them in various parts of the world. “Unfortunately,” the suit read, “such games have eluded regulation in the United States.” It then claims that thousands of customers have spent millions of dollars “unwittingly” on the play-money games.
Where Will It End?
The Appeals Court decision in the Big Fish case seems to have opened the doors for everyone who ever felt bad about spending money for virtual chips to file a lawsuit and claim the game was unlawful to be offered in the first place. While that is an oversimplification and generalization, the four lawsuits filed within days of the Big Fish ruling indicates that there are likely going to be more to come.
Video Poker Washington State
PokerStars may have chosen the correct path in leaving the Washington market after all. And attorneys for all types of gaming clients are likely examining the fine print of every state’s gambling law to see if they should advise operators to cease operations in those markets.
The effects of the lawsuits could be far-reaching and devastating to the internet gaming industry. Much of the impact will depend on the number of cases filed in the coming weeks and months, the scope of the filings (class action, for example), and the court rulings.
What a mess, hopefully WA lawmakers quickly address this (non) issue and clarify the ambiguous language they currently have in place! https://t.co/F4hfXuSSeQ
Washington State Online Poker Sites
— Adam Krejcik (@akrejcik) April 11, 2018