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Washington Appeals Court Upholds State's Prohibition of Internet Gambling

"It is appropriate for this Legislature to reaffirm the policy prohibiting gambling that exploits such new technologies."

In Rousso vs. State of Washington, Lee Rousso, a poker player, charged that state law making online gambling a felony interfered with federal regulation of interstate commerce. At dispute was the insertion of "the Internet" into the list of prohibited gambling media. "With the advent of the Internet and other technologies and means of communication that were not contemplated when either the gambling act was enacted in 1973," said the law, "or the lottery commission was created in 1982, it is appropriate for this Legislature to reaffirm the policy prohibiting gambling that exploits such new technologies."

The appeals court reaffirmed a lower court decision prohibiting Internet transmission of gambling information.

Wayne E. Hanson served as a writer and editor with e.Republic from 1989 to 2013, having worked for several business units including Government Technology magazine, the Center for Digital Government, Governing, and Digital Communities. Hanson was a juror from 1999 to 2004 with the Stockholm Challenge and Global Junior Challenge competitions in information technology and education.