PokerStars Moves to Block Washington Online Poker Players
After years of operating in the US poker market, despite the implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, PokerStars online poker room has made the decision to block real money players from Washington state.
The poker room made the move after the Supreme Court recently ruled that Washington's ban of online gambling does not go violate the Constitution.
The site sent an email to registered members from Washington stated:
"To date, PokerStars has operated in Washington on the basis of legal opinions where the central advice was that the state could not constitutionally regulate internet poker, or at least could not discriminate in favour of local card rooms and against online sites. Last week, however, the Washington Supreme Court for the first time rejected that position and upheld the state's internet gaming prohibition."
"In light of this decision," continued PokerStars in its email, "following extensive consultation with our legal advisors, we believe that the right course of action is to now block real money play by Washington residents on the PokerStars site."
The issue of online poker and gambling has always been a thorny issue in the state of Washington, especially since the state made online gambling a Class C felony (on the same level as child molestation), and anybody caught gambling on the internet could face a prison term.
Recently, local attorney, and an active member of the Poker Players Alliance, Lee Rousso, took the state's legislation to court, arguing that it was unconstitutional.
However, the Supreme Court ruled that will it could not make decisions regarding the legality of online gambling, it could rule that Washington's gambling laws did not violate the US Consitution.
