Has everyone taken a few moments to post a comment in favor of HB1114? Despite no action on the bill this session, remember that this is the first year of a two-year legislative cycle, and the bill has another chance next year.

Posting a comment in support of this bill does a couple of things. First, your legislators will be notified, so it directly tells them that this is an issue that is important to you. Second, all state legislators will see how much support their is for the measure. If there are only a few comments, that will affirm the legislature's belief the issue is unimportant. But if we get a thousand comments (or more) showing support for internet poker, they cannot simply ignore the issue. PLEASE take the time and take this step!

https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/1114

Local card rooms depend on the addition of new players > the attrition rate of players quitting the game when they loose too much.

When a potential player may be interested in learning and playing poker which is more likely, walking into a card room and buying in for $100 or playing on the Internet from their living room couch in a free roll or playing in a $2 buy-in game?

In the 90s, before Internet poker, nearly every poker room in Vegas had closed its doors. Trust me, I was there to see it. How do they think the millions of new players during the poker boom learned the game? Certainly not from home games.

It looks like a special session is in the works, hard to say how long it will last, but likely til the end of April. Once the legislators come home, we have to get back to work pressing for support for HB1114.

Ideally, we need to get a state senator to introduce a companion bill. The House bill won't move unless we can get the Muckleshoot Tribe on board. That tribe is wholly within the 31st LD, Rep. Hurst (31st-D) controls the committee, and the Tribe controls him. It's not a matter of donations, they can vote him out. Given that he is the only D in an R district, he is not going to go against the Tribe.

I am an avid poker player in washington state and I want to do whatever I can to help get online poker legalized in WA. I am tired of sitting around complaining about how ridiculous it is and want to do something about it. What is the best thing I can do to help?

Posting a comment in support of HB1114 does a couple of things. First, your legislators will be notified, so it directly tells them that this is an issue that is important to you. Second, all state legislators will see how much support their is for the measure. If there are only a few comments, that will affirm the legislature's belief the issue is unimportant. But if we get a thousand comments (or more) showing support for internet poker, they cannot simply ignore the issue. PLEASE take the time and take this step!

https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/1114

The legislature is currently still in special session working on a budget. Once that work is complete and they adjourn, we can go back to pestering them about this bill and put pressure on them to take it up next session.

Ok. I submitted a comment in support of the bill and I will do my best to encourage as many of my friends and family to do so as well. I really appreciate the work you have done towards making this happen!

Today there was a hearing in Olympia covering DFS in the Senate, and here is a link to the video if you care to see.

http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=...tID=2015110041

Chris Grove comes on at the 59 minute mark

Didn't get a chance to watch it, summary?

Today was Day 1 of 60 for the 2016 legislative session. By resolution, HB1114 was reintroduced and still has at least a glimmer of hope. What we can do as players is twofold . . . .

Make a comment in favor of the house bill ---> https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/1114

At the minimum, do this. When you do, your house representatives will be notified that you support this issue. Also, the totality of comments will say a lot about how important this issue is in general.

The next thing you should do is call or write your state senator and urge him or her to introduce a companion bill in the senate. I think we would have a little bit better chance of getting a hearing in the senate.

As for DFS, it was dealt a blow today when Rep. Hurst, the Chair of the House Gaming Committee, introduced a bill to prohibit online fantasy sports specifically. While this bill is redundant, it shows that the chair is opposed to DFS, and as he can unilaterally prevent a bill from going forward, you can be certain there will be no pro-dfs bills advancing out of his committee.

Appreciate your efforts, Curt. Added my comment and will contact my reps.

Thank you Curtis, I have texted and tweeted the link to all of my friends and family to support HB1114. I really hope it gets done this year.

Thanks for all of your effort Curt. I have submitted a comment.

Thanks for your work. Bummer about DFS, I'll never understand their motivations. But I commented on the bill and tweeted at my reps.

Friday Feb. 5th was the deadline to pass HB 1114 out of the committee this session, and the date passed without the bill seeing any action. That was the final curtain for this bill.

The announcement that Rep. Hurst would not seek re-election this year means there will be a new Chair in the House Gaming Committee. Hurst's district includes the Muckleshoot Casino and I believe this has given that Tribe veto power over any new gambling legislation, which obviously they have used to thwart both online poker and fantasy sports regulation.

The Dems hold a narrow two seat majority in the House, and they are likely to lose this seat in a predominantly GOP district. Either way there will be a new chair.

This may open the possibility that a new Chair would give online poker a hearing

Sounds like good news there Curt.

I'm working on another approach for online poker in Washington. Since nobody stepped up and showed any interest in offering online poker to our players, I thought we might try getting access to the NJ sites. However, this would not only take passage of enabling legislation, but we'd also have to have a governor motivated to forge a compact with them. It's probably a bigger lift than the bill we offered in the last legislature, but it might also garner some industry support.

The Chair of the Gaming Committee in the State Senate said today he would be willing to hold a hearing on internet poker. I'll be working on him to make sure he doesn't forget. Assuming he is still the committee chair come January, I think we can expect there to be an informational hearing at least, and specific bill(s) perhaps.

Not sure where we will be if the Dems retake control of the Senate.

the Majority Coalition (GOP) held on to the state senate, and Baumgartner will continue to chair the committee we must go through. He could be our new hero

*like* and reply to this tweet so he knows we are many

https://twitter.com/VoteBaumgartner/...57743009165312

So, how many of us are up for another bout with the legislature over online poker?
There is a very good chance we can get a hearing in January in the state senate. It would be nice to have a bill in the hopper so we have a starting point. I have three bill ideas in mind ....

1) reintroduce the two-tier regulatory bill introduced as HB 1114
2) introduce a bill to enable a compact with NJ

or, and this probably has the best chance to pass and move the ball ....

3) introduce a bill to have the Gambling Commission produce a study of online poker/gambling to be completed before the end of 2017
with a study from the Commission, we could get a recommendation from them that would surely help advance the issue. Currently the Commission has been neutral on the issue, but they haven't been asked by the legislature to take a position.

it could backfire, however. they may recommend against, and that would be the ballgame.

But the bottom line is we need players willing to show up to a hearing and talk about why we should be free to play, and why the legislature should be concerned with consumer protections instead of a hollow, unenforceable prohibition.

So, who's with me?

I'm about a month late replying here, but count me in. Always willing to donate a day of my time to this issue.

Tell me when and where and what I can do/say to help and I will.

Really guys, what does it tell the state senator, when he offers to hold a hearing on online poker, that only five people like it??

Is it really a mystery why it is so hard to move the ball. You guys aren't playing the game, and so we'll keep on losing.

Why should anyone fight for those who won't fight for themselves?

I'm at a loss

Just got an invite to testify at Senator Baumgartner's work session on online poker next Wednesday at 1:30. Will be there doing my best to represent our interests. Calm and cool like the multiple table low limit grinder that I am.

I shall be there as well. A show of support from the local poker community, even just a presence for those who don't want to speak publicly, would sure be helpful.

I also reached out to the PPA to see what support that venerable players' advocate could offer. I guess we'll see