Legal Online Poker Washington State
Is Online Poker / Gambling Legal in Washington State?
Technically, Washington’s laws do not allow for online poker, yet there is no real legal peril that players need to worry about. That’s because the laws in Washington penalize those who own and operate. Washington online poker has had some attempts at being regulated, but WA is far from becoming one of the legal online gambling sites. The biggest off-line option for exerting betting are the tribal land based. Washington State offers a huge choice of brick and mortar gambling to their citizens, with more than 100 venues including Tribal casinos, poker card rooms and racetracks. On the other hand this is the most clearly anti-gambling State when it comes to online play – with an act making this illegal and including some severe punishments. Washington is probably the most unpredictable state on when they will legalize and regulate online poker; it’s currently a Class C Felony. The only legitimate site accepting poker players from Washington is BetOnline. VISIT SITE Video Review – Our Review “Reviewed by Chuck Humphrey – 50 year Gaming Law Practitioner”. Washington is a very interesting state when it comes to talking about online poker. While they have laws on the books that can make playing poker up to a Class C felony, the state has NEVER enforced this law. Thus, no one has ever been prosecuted, arrested, or indicted for playing online poker.
The state of Washington has a large gambling industry led by over 100 Native American casinos. Washington state has a horse racing industry and a state lottery, so you'll find many gambling laws and three distinct arms of the Washington government which regulate gaming activities or administer gambling sales themselves. The governmental agencies involved in the Washington gambling industry are the Washington Horse Racing Commission, the Washington State Lottery Board, and the Washington State Gambling Commission.
Washington has altogether some 134 gambling venues in the state. In the entire United States, only Nevada (381), California (182), Florida (146), and Montana (145) have more locations a person can legally gamble--and Washington is awfully close to Florida and Montana in that competition. Washington is therefore one of the most pro-gambling states in the USA. Washingtonians have a wide range of gaming options, so let's cover every way a gambler can make wagers in the state of Washington.
Washington State Poker Laws
When Will Online Poker Be Legal In Washington State
Of all American states, Washington State offers one of the broadest arrays of ways to play legal poker for real money. State law in Washington does strongly suggest that poker is considered a form of gambling (refer to Section 9.46); gambling involves 'contests of chance,' and contests of chance occur when an outcome is predicated to 'a material degree' on luck, fortune, chance - whatever you want to call it.
There's a strong argument that poker doesn't rely that heavily on chance, but the question is still being fought over in various courts. For now, the working law of the land is that poker does involve such a degree of chance, and is therefore considered gambling for the purposes of the law in Washington State.
The bright side of all of this for Washington poker players is that a numerous amount of ways to legally gamble - and to legally play poker - are provided by the law in Washington. So even though poker is technically gambling, and gambling is largely prohibited by Washington State law, poker players will still have no shortage of legal ways to play thanks to these numerous exceptions.
One such exception: Tribal and commercial casinos and card rooms. There are literally dozens of live poker rooms spread across Washington, ranging from the Lucky Bridge Casino in Eastern Washington to the Muckleshoot Casino in Seattle.
Another: Charitable gambling. As laid out in Section 9.46.0209, a variety of gambling activity - including poker tournaments - are legal in Washington State. Such activity is overseen by the Washington State Gambling Commission.
The last exception relevant to poker players: social gambling. Washington uses the standard definition of social gambling also employed by states like New Jersey and New York. Basically: If there's 1) no 'house' or anyone acting as a 'bank' with an advantage over other players and 2) no charge for taking part in the game, it appears (per Section 9.46.0265) to render an activity exempt from the general anti-gambling laws of Washington State.
Are Horse Tracks Legal in Washington?
Washington has four horse tracks where parimutuel wagering takes place. Given the large number of brick-and-mortar casinos in the state of Washington, it should be no surprise that these race tracks are not racinos (which might take customers away from the casinos). No gaming machines are found at these various race tracks, though off-track betting and simulcasting do take place at these racing venues. Even on days when live horse races don't take place, gamblers can go to these tracks and enjoy horse betting on races around the country and around the globe.
The Washington Horse Racing Commission oversees horse racing, pari-mutuel betting, and simulcasts. The commission not only sees to the betting regulations, but also to licensing of horses, trainers, and jockeys.
Washington State Lottery
The Washington State Lottery offers games like Hit 5 and Lotto, which has $1,000,000 payouts. Washington also has contracts with the Powerball Multistate Lottery and the Mega Millions Multi State Lottery, so Washington citizens can enjoy playing the lotto for tens of millions, perhaps even hundreds of millions, of dollars.
Gambling Laws in Washington
Few states have gambling laws as favorable for gamblers and gaming interests as Washington. In Washington state, several factors come into play. The western states in the USA tend to be more libertarian in their social attitudes, believing the government should be less active in the moral decisions its citizens make. At the same time, Washington tends to have a more liberal outlook on moral issues, so concerns about gambling corrupting the citizenry are less tangible. Finally, Washington is home to many traditional Native American tribes. Because Washington state was about as far away from the federal government centers of power in Washington DC in the latter stages of American expansion all the way to the Pacific Ocean, the local Indian tribes faced fewer attempts by the US federal government and its Army to harm the Native population or move them out to somewhere else.
All these factors come together to make Washington a haven for gambling interests. I suppose if Washington state lawmakers tried to put a stop to legal gambling in the state, the US Supreme Court's former ruling and the subsequent Gaming Compacts with the Native American tribes would limit the state government's ability to do so. Whatever the case, people in Washington should find plenty of gambling action.
Washington Gambling Cities
Seventy-five different Washington cities house casinos. Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Walla Walla all have their own Indian casinos. Cities with two or more Native American casinos include Spokane, East Wenatachee, Kennewick, Shoreline, Renton, Auburn, Tulalip, Tukwila, Aberdeen, La Center, Mountlake Terrace, Lakewood, and Yakima, Washington. Places like Coulee Dam, Pullman, and Suquamish all have their own casino operation.
Learn About Other State Laws
Is Poker Legal In Washington State
Washington Casino Cruise Ships
As if Washington didn't have enough gambling opportunities, 18 different cruise ships which are classified as 'casino cruises' depart from the port of Seattle. Three of these cruise ships are owned by Ambassadors International, while 15 of the ships are owned and operated by the Holland America Line. The Ambassadors International cruise ships are the Wind Spirit, the Wind Star, and the Wind Surf. The Holland American Line features ships christened Amsterdam, Eurodam, Maasdam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Noordam, Oosterdam, Prinsendam, Rotterdam VI, Ryndam, Statendam, Veendam, Volendam, Westerdam, Zaandam, and Zuiderdam.
Like the Native American casino in Washington, oversight is provided by the Washington State Gambling Commission. Of course, these ships are traveling through international waters, so no US or national laws are enforced on the gambling which takes place on the cruise ships, though the cruise lines want to please customers and officials in the state from which they depart.
July 24, 2018 at 2:38 pm
I’m a poker player. There was a time when you would have to whisper that fact in hushed tones and make sure you watched who you were talking to. That was before the World Series of Poker was televised nationwide on ESPN, and people generally accepted the fact that there is skill involved in the game. That was before there were personal computers in every pocket and very smart people would try and solve the game with algorithms.
RELATED: Ron’s life lessons learned from poker
Did you realize that in the state of Washington it is a Class C Felony to play a hand of poker online for real money? Yes, it is a felony to place an online wager in Washington!
Just to give you some context, here is the explanation of misdemeanors from the Washington State Courts webpage: “Examples of gross misdemeanors are theft of property and driving while under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs. Among the many types of misdemeanors are disorderly conduct and prostitution.”
You got that right. A DUI and prostitution are misdemeanors, while placing a wager online is a felony.
Here’s the thing though, people like to gamble. It’s fun, and it can add a little excitement to a dull day. So I was surprised to read on Geekwire that Muckleshoot Casino is rolling out a new app that has a clever work around this draconian online wagering law.
Here’s how it’s going to work starting in the fall. You download their app to your phone, then physically go to the casino and purchase games with cash money. Then you can leave the casino and play the games anywhere virtually. If you win, you’re winning real money that you collect the next time you’re at the casino.
These won’t be games like poker or roulette, but more like bingo and other games where you’re not playing against the house.
I’m tempted to go on a diatribe on how stupid the state of Washington is for criminalizing an online behavior that is perfectly legal in real life. Instead, I’m going to view this as a positive step.
Hopefully, this will end up in court and the current laws will be thrown out.
Society is slowly losing its judgments about archaic prohibitions from a bygone era. Attitudes are becoming more liberal around the idea of placing a bet for entertainment. Look no further than the recent Supreme Court decision on sports wagering.
Washington state needs to wake up and realize this is a perfectly acceptable tax revenue stream that is no different than ordering your groceries online instead of going to the brick and mortar store. If people want to use their entertainment budget to play a game, isn’t that their business?
Kudos to Muckleshoot for moving this issue forward. Now let’s take the next logical step and allow responsible adults to do online all the things they can legally do in a casino.
You can hear “What are we talking about here?” everyday at 4:45 p.m. on 97.3 FM.