Washington State Online Gambling Laws
Washington State Online Poker Law
Washington State has one of the toughest online poker laws in the county. A law was approved in 2006 that criminalizes online poker players, so playing online poker is officially illegal in Washington. The law was challenged, but in 2012 a judge ruled that it can stand.
Washington Laws. The gambling law in Washington does not permit web-based gambling. Those who try to gamble on the internet are committing a felony. Players and businesses must adhere to this rule. Overseas websites that don’t care about state laws tend to not touch Washington. Gambling online is strictly prohibited in the state of Washington, which is the only state to categorize such offences as felonies. With this in mind, it is really best to make sure that you fully understand all of the Washington gambling laws before you plan a gambling session, whether online. Pennsylvania online gambling has reached biggest success within public, promoting numerous events and games. It is 100% legal and secure. If Vegas is mecca for rich people, spending thousands on hotel, planes and restaurants, we can call PA online gambling is a starting point for everyone. (1) Whoever knowingly transmits or receives gambling information by telephone, telegraph, radio, semaphore, the internet, a telecommunications transmission system, or similar means, or knowingly installs or maintains equipment for the transmission or receipt of gambling information shall be guilty of a class C felony subject to the penalty set forth in RCW 9A.20.021. US Gambling Laws and Online Regulation. United States gambling law is governed by three sets of gaming regulations, one each for local, state, and federal entities. Some states have gaming regulations that go back more than two centuries; other states have.
Several attempts to can the law have failed, even though the state senator who pushed the anti-online poker player law through, Democrat Margarita Prentice, has retired. Don’t assume Prentice was some anti-gambling nutso hell-bent on stopping gambling.
Prentice was a mouthpiece for the 39 Indian casinos that are located within Washington State’s borders. She fought against any type of gambling expansion that may have threatened the casino’s bottom line. In 2006, she set her sights on online poker and blasted it out of the sky with full photons lasers.
As a Class C felony, her law puts online poker players in the same category as child rapists.
But a group of players are fighting back. Washington online poker player Curtis Woodard has begun the process to get a voter-initialized bill that would legalize, tax, regulate, and define an online poker industry. Another initiative is also submitted, which would wipe Prentice’s bill away.
Woodward, with the help of Washington State online poker fans, must collect 246,372 signatures by the end of December 2013. If enough signatures are collected, state senators must decide whether to vote on the bills or decline, which would put it on the ballot for voter referendum in November 2014.
This grassroots movement might actually have enough momentum to work. Most likely it will fall short of the necessary signatures, but look for them to try again. If it does work out, it would completely remove the powerful Indian casino lobby from the equation.
It’s seriously a huge mystery as to why the Indian casinos aren’t backing the initiative with all of their weight. The initiative calls for the online poker rooms to have a brick-and-mortar presence and generally gives existing casinos and card rooms major advantages.
Tribal casinos make up more than $2.1 billion of Washington State’s $2.6 billion gambling industry, which includes dozens of card rooms. With the likelihood that the voter initiative will not have enough signatures to get it on the legislative calendar for 2014, the Indian casinos will mostly likely begin to push for online poker.
The most a poker room made in Washington in 2012 was about $2 million. Almost half of the card rooms actually reported losses on the year. Again, why the card rooms and casinos aren’t backing the online poker voter initiative will remain a mystery.
When Can I Play Online Poker in Washington State?
If, miraculously, the online poker voter initiative passes, the cards will fly through the digital ether in 2015. Most likely, look for the Indian casinos to start applying pressure for at least online poker legalization in 2014, with an actual bill getting submitted in 2015. If all goes optimistically well, late 2016 will see the first online poker rooms in Washington State.
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Washington State is something of a special case when it comes to online poker in the United States. Poker players in Washington have to contend with a legal state of affairs that is both quite restrictive and completely unique.
We’ll discuss that state of affairs, along with the likely future of online poker in Washington, in this Guide to Online Poker in Washington State.
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Washington is one of the few states in America that specifically calls out online poker as a crime. Worse, it designates the activity as a felony.
Washington State Online Gambling Laws
In 2006, then-State Senator Margarita Prentice sponsored a bill to make online poker a felony with a $10K fine or five-year prison sentence as the penalty. While most states threatened to penalize online gambling operators, Prentice wanted Washington to punish players. She got her wish that June when then-Governor Christine Gregoire signed the bill into law. Online poker became a Class C felony.
A Seattle attorney named Lee Rousso sued the state in 2008 over the right to play poker online. Despite numerous appeals and support from the then-influential Poker Players Alliance, the case was eventually rejected by the Washington State Supreme Court in 2010.
In the years that followed, there was talk of new bills to overturn the online poker law, but they never progressed through the legislature. There was little support to address the issue, especially after the State Supreme Court ruling.
Showing the propensity of Washington for overreacting to online gambling, other court cases have put free-play online gaming in the spotlight. Big Fish, an online casino game developer based in Seattle and operating since 2002, is fighting players in court who declare that the option to buy play-money chips in Big Fish’s online games violate the state laws.
Big Fish lost one of the cases in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2016, essentially ruling that even free-play online games were illegal for players in that state. That decision even prompted PokerStars to withdraw its free online poker website from Washington players.
Lawmakers made an attempt in 2019 to address sports betting, but the tribal entities that operate the state’s casinos and pushed for the anti-online poker law also expressed opposition to sports betting. So far, there has been no progress beyond discussions and the occasional hearing.
Is Online Poker Legal in Washington?
While all online poker players should be familiar with their state laws with regards to gambling, Washington State online poker players have a special motivation for learning more about the law as Washington is one of the few states that specifically singles out online gambling.
Let’s talk more about that aspect of, and a handful of other important points from, Washington State gambling law:
| Type/Code | Summary |
|---|---|
| State Code Section(s) | 9.46-47; 67.16-17; 67.70 |
| Definition of Gambling | Staking or risking something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under the person’s control or influence, upon an agreement or understanding that the person or someone else will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome. |
| Definition of Contest of Chance | Any contest, game, gaming scheme, or gaming device in which the outcome depends in a material degree upon an element of chance, notwithstanding that skill of the contestants may also be a factor. |
| Definition of Player | A natural person who engages, on equal terms with the other participants, and solely as a contestant or bettor, in any form of gambling in which no person may receive or become entitled to receive any profit therefrom other than personal gambling winnings, and without otherwise rendering any material assistance to the establishment, conduct or operation of a particular gambling activity. A natural person who gambles at a social game of chance on equal terms with the other participants shall not be considered as rendering material assistance to the establishment, conduct or operation of the social game merely by performing, without fee or remuneration, acts directed toward the arrangement or facilitation of the game, such as inviting persons to play, permitting the use of premises for the game, or supplying cards or other equipment to be used in the games. |
| Definition of Legal Social Card Game | A card game that constitutes gambling and is authorized by the commission under RCW 9.46.070. Authorized card games may include a house-banked or a player-funded banked card game. No one may participate in the card game or have an interest in the proceeds of the card game who is not a player or a person licensed by the commission to participate in social card games. |
| Online Poker/Gambling | Online poker is specifically prohibited by Washington state law and considered a felony. The Poker Players Alliance sued the state in the late 2000s alleging the law was unconstitutional, but the PPA lost. Lawmakers continue to push for legalized online poker nearly every year, but there is never sufficient support to pass the bills. |
| Live Poker | Cardrooms have been legal in Washington for several decades, where poker is prevalent. There is also cash game and tournament poker offered in some of the Native American casinos like Tulalip Resort Casino. |
| Casinos | All of Washington’s 29 tribes have gaming compacts with the state to offer casinos on their respective lands. The casinos offer slot machines and video gaming machines but only a few offer table games like poker. |
| Sports Betting | Washington lawmakers have not considered any bills to legalize sports betting. |
| DFS | A Senate bill was introduced in 2018 to legalize paid-entry fantasy sports, but it did not pass. |
| Other Forms of Gambling | Lottery, bingo and charitable gambling, horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering, pull-tab games and punchboards. |
Let’s start off by exploring how Washington State defines the act of gambling. There are a few components to the definition, the first of which is found in Section 9.46.0237:
“”Gambling,” as used in this chapter, means staking or risking something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under the person’s control or influence, upon an agreement or understanding that the person or someone else will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.”
That’s basically a boilerplate definition of gambling, and it’s extended by Washington’s definition of “contest of chance” found in Section 9.46.0237. Basically, if chance plays a “material” role in the outcome of an event, then that event is a contest of chance regardless of whether or not there is also a skill component.
A number of activities are given a pass from Washington State gambling laws. Regulated forms of gambling are exempt, as are various forms of charitable gambling.
Social gambling is legal in the state of Washington (Section 9.46.0265).
You’ll see repeated references to “professional gambling” in Washington State law. Despite what the term might suggest to you, under Washington law it refers to involvement in the business or operational side of illegal gambling – not gambling professionally.
You’ve probably heard a good deal about Washington State having a law that makes playing online poker illegal. When people reference that, they’re generally talking about Section 9.46.240, which makes it a felony for anyone who
“knowingly transmits or receives gambling information by telephone, telegraph, radio, semaphore, the Internet, a telecommunications transmission system, or similar means.”
Will Washington Regulate Online Poker?
This remains a very complicated question that is largely dependent on how regulated online gambling rolls out in the rest of the United States. Specifically, a scenario that gives tribal interests sufficient motivation to embrace online poker and online gambling is the most positive one for those who want to see such games regulated in Washington.
Until some of the major stakeholders in Washington’s gaming industry develop a greater interested in regulated online poker, it seems as if the state will continue to hold its title as one of the least hospitable places for online poker players.
How Can I Play Online Poker From Washington State?
As previously mentioned, playing online poker in Washington can be potentially problematic for WA poker players. For one thing, very few sites accept players from Washington State . For another, players could be risking criminal action by participating in some forms of online poker.
The solution is either to play poker for play chips only, or to try one of the WA online poker sites that offer a unique format – such as subscription poker – that allow them to conduct business in compliance with the law of Washington State.
Top Online Poker Sites for Washington
Because of the legal situation in Washington State, residents must be very selective about the online poker sites that they use. It’s perfectly legal to access sites for play-money play, or to patronize sites that are structured in a way that comports with Washington law. If that’s the sort of WA online poker room you’re looking for, here are our picks for the top poker sites .
All Poker and Gambling Laws by State
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
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Washington Gambling Facts
Is Online Gambling Legal In Washington State
Washington State has one of the most varied and complex regulated gambling menus of any state in America. It starts with the state-backed lottery and extends into tribal casinos. Those options share the space with Washington’s commercial casinos, card rooms and race tracks.
Things get more confusing when you start looking into charitable gambling in Washington State. Multiple forms are permitted, some of which require a license and some of which do not. Depending on your ability to obtain a license, your organization could offer games ranging from bingo to poker to full-blown casino nights.
Things are quite a bit simpler for WA online poker. Washington State does not directly regulate online gambling. No online poker, no online casino – no matter how hard you look, you won’t find an online gambling site that holds a license issued by Washington State.
Some were surprised that the Tennessee legislature approved mobile sports betting in 2019, but it came with a threat from the governor to veto any other attempts to expand gambling in the state. This will likely be the last we hear from Tennessee in a while.
Famous Washington State Poker Players
Many poker players hail from Washington, as they have been able to learn the game and hone their skills at live card rooms around the state. And prior to 2006, thousands of them also played online poker.
Scott Clements was one of the players who started online and built his bankroll on poker sites. He is now the all-time money winner in live tournaments, having to abandon his online poker activities long ago to continue residing in Washington. With a record dating back to 2005 and including several WSOP and WPT titles, Clements continues to accumulate winnings.
Longtime Washington-born poker players also hold solid places on the all-time money list, like Lee Watkinson, Lee Markholt, and Ralph Porter.
As of 2021, these were the top players in that category for live tournament earnings:
1. Scott Clements ($8.2 million)
2. Brandon Cantu ($4.4 million)
3. Lee Watkinson ($4.3 million)
4. Lee Markholt ($4.2 million)
5. Ralph Porter ($4 million)
6. Dylan Wilkerson ($3.3 million)
7. Matt Affleck ($3 million)
8. Tyler Patterson ($2.5 million)
9. Quinn Do ($2.5 million)
10. Darren Rabinowitz ($2.2 million)