{"id":33593,"date":"2016-01-13T16:55:46","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T00:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=33593"},"modified":"2016-01-13T16:55:46","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T00:55:46","slug":"washington-state-online-poker-and-dfs-bills-introduced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/washington-state-online-poker-and-dfs-bills-introduced\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington State Online Poker and DFS Bills Introduced"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_33594\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33594\" data-style=\"width: 320px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-33594\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Washington online poker and DFS bills\" width=\"320\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mqdefault.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mqdefault-142x80.jpg 142w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mqdefault-166x93.jpg 166w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-33594\"class=\"text-description\">Representative Sherry Appleton has resurrected her online poker bill, which failed to gain traction last year. (Image: youtube.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Washington State\u2019s online poker and daily fantasy sports (DFS) bills have been resurrected today, on the very first day of the state\u2019s legislative session, January 13th. The two bills are identical to legislation introduced a year ago that failed to gain traction in the legislature.<span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Representatives Sherry Appleton\u2019s and Vincent Buys\u2019 HB1114 seeks to authorize and regulate real-money online poker in a state that was one of the first to specifically ban online gaming.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In fact, Washington is the only state where merely playing online poker could, at least theoretically, get you locked up. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lawmakers prohibited online gaming in 2006 in the wake of the passage of the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), and made it a Class C felony. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Section 9.46.240 of the state\u2019s gambling law declares that anyone who &#8220;knowingly transmits or receives gambling information by telephone, telegraph, radio, semaphore, the Internet, a telecommunications transmission system, or similar means&#8221; is violating the law. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Grassroots Push<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means that the simple act of playing online poker could come with a prison sentence of up to five years and a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$10,000 fine, although no one has ever been prosecuted under this law, we should point out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nevertheless, many see the law as draconian. Last year\u2019s legislative push began at a grassroots level, spearheaded by the Washington Internet Poker Initiative, a group of poker players desperate to overturn the prohibition. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p><strong>\u201c[Live] poker has long been an authorized activity in Washington state, and with the internet as a technological aid, poker can be conducted in a virtual environment and played from the privacy of one&#8217;s own computer or mobile device,\u201d states the bill.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4><strong>HB1114 is pushing for the authorization of interstate compacts for player pool sharing and contains no \u201cbad actor\u201d clause that could stymie a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pokerstars-enters-casino-sports-betting-business\" target=\"_blank\">PokerStars<\/a> entry should the game be legalized for online players.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Attitude to Fantasy Sports May Be Thawing<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, the DFS bill, HB1301, seeks to bypass the online gambling prohibition by having <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dfs-could-be-banned-by-doj-by-end-of-year\" target=\"_blank\">DFS<\/a> classified as games of skill rather than luck, mirroring legislation successfully passed last year in Kansas. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s sponsored by seven state representatives, including Eric Pettigrew, Brandon Vick, as well as Buys. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington remains the only state ever to prosecute a fantasy sports site, although New York has ambitions to follow suit. In <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2011, officials shut down Fantasy Thunder, a Washington-based fantasy NASCAR site that had been in operation for around five years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are indications, though, that the state\u2019s attitude to fantasy sports may be thawing. \u00a0The Washington State Gambling Commission (WSGC) recently completed a comprehensive 41-page study of daily fantasy sports, which was debated in the legislature.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The legislature will be the one to decide who would license and regulate DFS if it is legalized,&#8221; said Susan Newer of the WSGC. &#8220;If they give that authority to [us], we would do it.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington State\u2019s online poker and daily fantasy sports (DFS) bills have been resurrected today, on the very first day of the state\u2019s legislative session, January 13th. The two bills are identical to legislation introduced a year ago that failed to gain traction in the legislature.\u00a0 \u00a0 Representatives Sherry Appleton\u2019s and Vincent Buys\u2019 HB1114 seeks to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":33594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Washington State Online Poker and DFS Bills Introduced<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington State bills resurrected to legalize fantasy sports and online poker.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Washington State Online Poker and DFS Bills Introduced\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington State bills resurrected to legalize fantasy sports and online poker.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/washington-state-online-poker-and-dfs-bills-introduced\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-14T00:55:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mqdefault.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"180\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/washington-state-online-poker-and-dfs-bills-introduced\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/washington-state-online-poker-and-dfs-bills-introduced\/\",\"name\":\"Washington State Online Poker and DFS Bills Introduced\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/washington-state-online-poker-and-dfs-bills-introduced\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/washington-state-online-poker-and-dfs-bills-introduced\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mqdefault.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-14T00:55:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-14T00:55:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Washington State bills resurrected to legalize fantasy sports and online poker.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/washington-state-online-poker-and-dfs-bills-introduced\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/washington-state-online-poker-and-dfs-bills-introduced\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/washington-state-online-poker-and-dfs-bills-introduced\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mqdefault.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/mqdefault.jpg\",\"width\":320,\"height\":180,\"caption\":\"Representative Sherry Appleton has resurrected her online poker bill, which failed to gain traction last year. 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