Wow, this is crazy. Anything on if FTP will follow?

Hopefully this will light a fire under some people's arses to really start fighting back.

Edit: Holy f*ck!!!!!

I was trying to find a list of states that explicitly ban online gambling but couldn't find one. Could someone post one up for me?

Anyone who plays online poker in Washington needs to vote based on the vote putting this law into place in November and needs to call and tell their representative specifically why they arent getting their vote.

Then they need to call their new/existing rep come November and tell them that they are now one issue voters. If the poker law is still on the books when they are up for election, the vote is going to their opponent.

We need to all become one issue poker voters. Its the only way to get anything done.

The status quo cannot hold. We need a poker bill. (BTW, this is far from the worst case scenario. Losing a Wire Act case would be much worse.)

Lee Rousso. He's the one who brought the suit against the bill.

PPA sent an alert a couple of days ago to our Washington State members, requesting that they all send a state-specific letter to their lawmakers. I don't know if we can get the law repealed, but we'll certainly be trying.

Ah, I didnt realize he was state director for some reason, makes tons of sense.

Sounds like nothing much happening on the repeal front though.

Reaaallly hope I end up moving out there, if I do I guess thats it for me besides playing at a casino once in awhile and looking for news that the PPAhas been successful.

Also brings up the problems with litigation.

Was this litigation useful or harmful in hindsight? Does Stars ban players without the Supreme Court decision that seemed to be the impetus for this? Or did it buy Washington players more time? When was the lawsuit filed, and was Stars contacted before the lawsuit?

Good intentions of course, but shows why litigation is risky.

Ofc the litigation is harmful for the short-term specifically for us Washington St. residents. Thankfully I don't play on stars that much, but still this is pretty horrible news. I think attempting to fight these laws is definitely worth it long-term for the game of poker.

+1

Fighting back is of course worth it long term, I just think its a useful data point that litigation may not be freeroll.

EDIT: Id be surprised if anyone with any hopes of getting licensed still serves WA after Stars leaves. Think about how a licensing hearing goes if you continued to serve after the largest pokersite determined it violated law to serve the state. Its actually a pretty good litmus test for who is interested in Federal Licensing.

beat

True, litigation is no freeroll. As we saw, it validates and sometimes expands the scope of the laws in question. Additionally, asking courts to overturn laws passed by the elected representatives of the people is always challenging.

This is bad news but if it sparks some complacent poker players to now jump on board and start firing off emails to politicians then we can squeeze something positive out of this. Engineer--apart from emailing my representatives and getting my friends to do the same what if anything can I do to help more?

Fight on,

DF

PS has no choice if it wants to ever get a license to serve US citizens if a federal license is ever enacted. If it became clear and certain that a US license would never be enacted, then PS would likely decide to violate US law and serve US citizens. If CA enacts some law banning PS and federal licensing legislation is in its present state, then PS's reaction will be interesting. My guess is that FTP and Cake will follow suit, but not Cereus.

Mr. Rousso is appealing to SCOTUS. IMO, this appeal will be granted, but will take about 2 years. IMO, SCOTUS will reverse this awful decision. I don't know why Mr. Rousso didn't file his suit in federal court in the first place.

This ruling will harm WA residents while it is appealed. Maybe it will wake up some online poker players to the fact that more freedom is being lost in the US every day and the courts often do not protect freedom. In fact, court decisions have taken more freedom from US citizens than legislation.

Still, actions like this show that despite litigation being a crap shoot, the PPA should undertake it if no federal licensing bill is passed this year (which seems more unlikely by the day).

For those in the Evergreen State I suspect getting the law overturned is a longshot. You will need a new governor (since Gregoire supports it), and many new legislators. The best chance--though still likely a difficult fight--is an initiative. It would take a lot of signature (241,153) to get it on the ballot, but that's still probably the best way to get the law repealed.

As for Stars, the decision makes sense. I doubt that Stars fears a prosecution by state prosecutors; however, the combination of a valid state prohibition and the UIGEA likely caused Stars' reaction.

The only long-term solution in the US is legislation. As the Engineer and Skall have said on numerous occasions, the status quo is unstable and will not last. For those who want to go back to the Party days of 2006, we can't. For those who want to have things stay the way they are, they won't.

-- Russ Fox

As I often tell my clients, litigation is often all or nothing. Winning all these cases would produce a very favorable environment for online poker, more favorable than a bill would. But losing would make things far worse.

In contrast, legislation offers certainty.

depressing

I disagree here 100%. Pokerstars has never shown any indication that they would ever operate in any jurisdiction unlawfully. I don't know why you would disregard all of their press releases and all of their prior actions and believe they would become a rogue operator in the future if they were denied a federal license. Further, over 50% of their business is outside of the United States, so they are better positioned than any other company to just serve non-U.S. residents.

Email sent....Worried

I agree, but legislation is unlikely anytime soon. Also, in the case of online poker, losing the litigation would place it in the same status as online sports betting. This means transactions by paper check on sites willing to violate US law like Bodog and Cereus. OTOH, we are slowly heading in that direction anyway.

Thus, IMO, if federal licensing is not enacted this year (fingers and toes crossed for two outer), then litigation is the only alternative.

Here are some things we can do:

• Join PPA as a paid member
• Contribute to the PPA PAC
• Call your elected representatives
• Visit your elected representatives, either in D.C. or at their local offices
• Volunteer for pro-poker political candidates
• Write to newspapers and post comments on various blogs and online news sites
• Write pro-poker op-eds and columns

Wasn't this fallout anticipated and/or planned for? If not, why was the case brought in the first instance instead of, for example, waiting for a prosecution under the statute?

As a Washington state resident, I am pissed as hell! There are dozens of card rooms and casinos within a 20 mile radius of my house where the state is content to let me play legally, so the ban is not based on some misguided idea that playing poker is "immoral." It's based on the venality of our politicians who take money from the people who run the brick-and-mortar card rooms and casinos and enact the legislation that they want.

Unfortunately, we don't have the numbers to exert political pressure to change the law, but we do have a big stick to wield, although it involves sacrifice. I think the most effective way to fight this would actually be for Washington poker players to boycott card rooms and casinos. We don't play any poker in physical locations in the state until the ban is repealed. When the operators of the brick-and-mortar locations see their tables sitting idle, it will pressure them to use their influence with legislators to overturn the law.

That's my two cents' worth. If it makes sense to you, spread the word.

I suspect that the case bought us time. With a law against online poker and no legal challenge, it seems PS would have had to leave at that time.

I too am a WA state resident, and it saddens me to see this day come. I think the boycott is a solid idea...its obvious why we have things the way we do here. Anyone wanna speculate on how long until FTP follows? I will support the PPA and contact my representatives until we have some progress. Sad indeed. The nanny state is here in my state.

Anyone down for home games in WA? PM me.