Re: History of Gambling in WA
Engineer got it right for ya, I can add a few things though:
Poker is not a lottery - at least it shouldnt be. The 2 courts that are cited as having ruled poker a game of skill, essentially did this in the context of ruling poker was not a lottery and therefore not banned by these types of consitutional provisions. The 2 states are California and Missouri.
Around the turn of the century, private lotteries abounded in these United States. Contemporaneous with the temperance movement that gave rise to prohibition, saving people from alcohol went hand in hand with saving them from gambling, basically lotteries. A lot of western states became states at this time and thus included these kind of provisions in their state constitutions.
It is hugely ironic that now 70 -100 years later, the types of gambling that werent much of a concern back then, individual card games, are now considered illegal while lotteries, so long as they are run by the state, are available almost everywhere. States actually amended their consitutions to allow these lotteries....but kept their other gambling laws to stop you and me from playing cards for money.
Beam me up Scotty, theres no intelligent life down here.
Skallagrim
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