The United States, all at once they are together yet they are all individuals in their own right. Each state has its own personality in terms of the typical people you will find there, the attitudes they will preach, and the reputation of the place. Some states have tempered political zones of their own, such as northern versus southern California. San Francisco County, California in the northern part of the state is decidedly liberal, while Orange County California is the Republican stronghold of the state and is decidedly conservative. This is part of what makes America great, if you don't agree with the area you are living in you can always move somewhere else. The United States is so big there's a perfect place for everyone to live.

Just as there is a place for everyone in the US, there is a political party for everyone. There are the two main parties, Democrat and Republican, and dozens of smaller parties that have a wide range such as Libertarian (which is what I am) or the Green Party. Democrats are meant to be the more liberal of the two main political parties. They focus on social issues and education. Republicans are on the right side of the scale with a more conservative bent. They focus on foreign issues and business. One would think that the Republicans would be more likely to promote an anti-gambling stance and in many cases you would be right. Senator Kyle from Arizona is in fact a Republican. However, in Washington the anti-internet gambling race is led by a Democrat.

Democrat Senator Margarita Prentice is the chair of the Washington state Ways and Means Committee. This committee is the one responsible for developing operating and capital budgets and tax and pension policy. If you look at Senator Prentice's site you would find that most of the bills she has introduced are monetary in nature. However, if you look closer at the list of bills she has introduced you will find that she is distinctly anti-gambling in nature. Senator Prentice has introduced an anti-internet gambling bill (SB 6613) and referred it to the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research and Development Committee, to which she also is a member, on January 17, 2006. SB 6613 would make it illegal to run any sort of internet gambling in the state as well as illegal to deposit and play in any sort of internet gambling business. In other words, no depositing and winning in your favorite online casino when you or your server is based in Washington state.

SB 6613 is one of several anti-gambling bills that Senator Prentice has introduced. SB 6615 limits the range of social card games allowed in the state, SB 5287 authorizes a state tax on social card games in the state, SB 5878 prohibits internet gambling as well, and just in case someone wants to get some money from the outside to help their gambling issues there is SB 5879 which prohibits out-of-state contributions to gambling ballot measures. This is a woman who covers all of the bases. Washington can forget about the PlayAway games which are becoming popular in Nevada and have just passed the Gambling Commissions for Mississippi and New Jersey if SB 6301 passes. SB 6301 concerns off-reservation tribal gaming. Of course she wants to be fair, she has also introduced SCR 8417, which is for establishing a committee on gambling policy setting. What do you want to bet that she wants to head that committee? I think she's just trying to make sure that SB 5037 doesn't need a lot of money. SB 5037 is a bill providing long-term funding for problem gambling.

Washingtonvotes.org is a website dedicated to the states legislature as it happens. According to this site SB 6613 is fairly all encompassing and will raise the penalty for someone breaking the anti-internet gambling law. "Substitute offered to the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research and Development Committee on February 3, 2006, to add the internet and telecommunications systems to the list of means over which a person is prohibited from knowingly transmitting or receiving wagers or other gambling information. The penalty for knowingly engaging in such illegal transmission or receipt is increased from a gross misdemeanor to a Class C felony. The Lottery Commission is prohibited from offering any game where the internet can be used to buy tickets or chances. An affirmative vote of 60% of both houses of the legislature is required before the Lottery Commission may offer any lottery game that allows or requires a player to use a device that electronically replicates any game of chance, including electronic scratch tickets." In other words by gambling online with your own money in the privacy of your own home is a felony in Washington State. Violators of this law could receive a maximum of 10 years in jail.

According to Washingtonpolicy.org the maximum jail time for armed robbery is 5 years. That means Washington State feels that people who choose to enjoy themselves using their own hard earned money should be punished twice as long as those who use a gun to steal. Can someone here explain their reasoning, because I just don't get it? In fact, I'm going to repeat myself to see if it makes sense this time. Stealing from someone while using a gun, is better than being a productive member of society who likes to use their hard earned entertainment money to play an online casino game. Ummm, no. Still doesn't make an ounce of sense to me. Did I mention that armed robbery is a class A felony while internet gambling is a class C? The mind boggles.

It will be interesting to see how Washington State plans to enforce their new law. If they choose to use credit card providers and bank statements or records from ISP's they will infuriate the wrath of privacy advocates. Somehow, though, I doubt they care.

Governor Christine Gregoire signed SB 6613 on March 28, 2006, the added prohibitions and restrictions to the gambling act and will take effect on June 7, 2006.

Posted on: May 14, 2006

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