Washington State Receives A Dose Of Poker Players Alliance Today

The Poker Players Alliance has their eyes set on ensuring that lawmakers overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Before that law is discussed, however, the PPA has some other business to handle in Washington.

This morning, the PPA will hold a rally outside of the Washington State Supreme Court to protest a law that criminalizes online poker players in the state. The law, according to Washington State PPA Director Lee Rousso, is outdated and too harsh. Rousso will lead the argument at a hearing inside the court while the rally takes place outside.

Rousso has many allies that do not find the Washington law to be reasonable. PPA Chairman Alfonse D'Amato, a former Senator from New York, is amazed at the lengths that Washington is going to in order to criminalize online poker.

"I'm shocked that a state as enlightened as Washington is making people felons for playing online poker in their own homes," said D'Amato, in a press release released this week. D'Amato will be in attendance for the hearing today, and hopes the Supreme Court will rule in favor of Internet freedom.

Several others will also be in Washington to declare their belief that the current law is being interpreted unfairly. Already, a Court of appeals upheld the law, but Rousso and others feel they made that ruling incorrectly, and the PPA is hoping that the Supreme Court overturns the Court of Appeals decision. Playing poker online is a Class C felony in Washington.

All of this will take place against the backdrop of several lawmakers in the US Congress trying to have the UIGEA overturned. Representative Barney Frank has proposed legislation that would begin the process of regulating online gambling, and Rep. Jim McDermott, from Washington, has introduced a companion bill that would lay the groundwork for taxation within the online gaming industry in the US.

May 27, 2010
Posted By April Gardner
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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