Update on Washington State Bills

[TheMathProf]

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This entire thread seems to be full of recreational online poker players who think it's ok for it to be a felony to play poker online professionally. Am I missing something?

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You sure are.

In principle, I agree with you, but the professional battle is a larger one, because professional gambling is and has been illegal in the state of Washington regardless of whether you gamble on the internet or not, and has been since 1994, which means that it frankly isn't a pressing issue or particularly newsworthy.

The relevant statutes regarding this are RCW 9.46.220 "Professional gambling in the first degree.", RCW 9.46.221 "Professional gambling in the second degree.", and RCW 9.46.222 "Professional gambling in the third degree.".

Chapter 9.46 of the RCW in general goes into great detail about defining the different terms (such as "What is professional gambling?")