The state of Washington fought against online poker to the point that it declared playing the game a felony and defended its stance against lawsuits in court. That, however, is in stark contrast to a thriving live poker scene across the state.
Washington is a complicated state with regard to gambling.
On one hand, the Washington State Gambling Commission is very clear about what types of gambling it will license and what it considers illegal by law. Tribal gaming is a huge part of Washington’s gaming culture, as 29 compacts with tribal entities. Not all of them offer casino gaming, but most of them offer some sort of activity regulated by said compacts.
On the other hand, Washington has fought against the idea of online poker – and other types of online gambling – for decades. In fact, lawmakers passed a bill in 2006 to make online poker a Class C felony, and the governor approved it. They defended it in court and won. The state has even gone so far as to criminalize free-play online gaming apps, defending those cases in court as well.
The primary form of legal gambling in Washington is the lottery, which is a statewide and even allows the state’s participation in nationwide lotteries like Powerball. The support of the lottery, arguably the type of game involving the most luck, is at odds with its stance on other forms of gambling.
That is the state of Washington. It’s relationship with gambling is always going to be complicated.
Gambling in Washington State
This state provides an interesting look into the difficulty surrounding online poker in the United States. Its unique stance on the issue shows the depth of misunderstanding about the game and the sheer will of lawmakers to take a stance that may be misinformed but one that they will defend to the ends of the legal system.
Washington also makes an interesting case of the benefits of tribal gaming to Native Americans, with the caveat that tribes not participating in some form of gambling often suffer economically as compared to fellow tribal nations. And contrary to the nature of gambling, Washington’s tribes take few risks when it comes to gambling expansion. Sports betting was allowed, but i-gaming is not given a second thought because of the unknowns associated with it.
With all of that said, let’s break it all down.
Brief History of Tribal Gaming in Washington
The state of Washington embraced the lottery in the early 1980s. In 1992, tribal gaming began to take shape.
In 1988, the United States Congress passed a federal law called the IndianGaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). It established the authority and general framework for Native American tribes to negotiate gaming compacts with state governments. Tribes in Washington immediately began to act to negotiate, solidify, and sign their compacts as follows:
Tulalip Tribes of Washington signed compact (1991) and opened casino (1992)
Nooksack Indian Tribe signed compact (1991) and opened casino (1993)
Lummi Nation signed compact and opened casino (1991)
Four tribal nations signed compacts in 1992, and the process continued through the 1990s and beyond. Many compacts were re-signed and amended along the way. As of 2023, there are 29 tribal nations with gaming compacts.
Card Rooms
In 1996, the Washington State Gambling Commission (WSGC) launched a study into table games, such as poker and blackjack. They authorized a temporary addition of more tables into existing casinos to take a closer look at their popularity and economic feasibility aside from the entirety of a casino. What they found was an opportunity to allow individual proprietors outside of the tribal gaming realm to open card rooms.
The following year, the WSGC transformed its pilot program into a set of regulations, while lawmakers simultaneously passed legislation to allow those small gaming centers, sometimes called mini-casinos, to operate. It took a few years of tweaking the program, but they did implement it.
Over the years, the mini-casino framework has changed to stay relevant.
During the poker boom (2006), poker’s popularity skyrocketed, and they increased the dollar limit attached to the card rooms. It wasn’t ideal, but it was an improvement to allow each table to have $200 limits.
With poker still booming in 2008, the WSGC changed the operating hours for all mini-casinos from 20 to 24 hours per day, though the five-day-per-week rule still applied.
By 2012, the need arose to raise limits again, this time on individual bets in Texas Hold’em. They increased them from $40 to $100.
Today, a single bet is capped at $300, and a player can raise no more than three times in a hand.
There was a little downsizing. The city of Tacoma outlawed mini-casinos in 1999, though the WSGC allowed them to remain open for several more years to pay off their initial opening costs. When voters confirmed the decision to close their three Tacoma card rooms in 2006, they did so. Other towns and cities that specifically prohibit card rooms and casinos include Edgewood, Granite Falls, Liberty Lake, Long Beach, Poulsbo, and Prescott.
There are four types of card rooms in Washington:
Public card room: profit-seeking retail business for playing of cards by the public; games can include poker, hearts, bridge, pinochle, cribbage, rummy, pan, and mah-jongg tiles.
Social card room: charitable or nonprofit organization for playing of cards by their members and guests; same card games as listed for public rooms.
House-banked card room: profit-seeking retail business for playing of games with a house advantage; games include blackjack, pai gow, three-card poker, etc.
Casino poker room: located inside a tribal casino property
Poker players can find live poker throughout the state, from casinos to various types of card rooms. The WSGC website shows 99 public card rooms currently holding licenses, many of them restaurants and bars.
Poker Atlas lists 34 active card rooms with cash games, many also offering tournaments. The largest ones are:
Ace’s Poker in North Seattle (15 tables)
Casino CaribbeanKirland in North Seattle (15 tables)
Fortune Poker Room in South Seattle (15 tables)
Hollywood Cardroom in North Seattle (15 tables)
Palace Casino Lakewood near Tacoma (15 tables)
The vast majority of the rooms listed on Poker Atlas have fewer than ten tables but still offer regular cash games and tournaments.
The list of social card rooms via the Washington State Gambling Commission includes about 75 rooms, most of them licensed to VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and similar groups like the Elks and American Legion. There are also rooms licensed to the Tacoma Association for the Deaf, several senior centers, and Royal Oaks Country Club.
Online Poker Had No Chance
In 2006, the United States federal government passed the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act). It was an addition to a port security bill, and it was aimed at the growing interest in igaming – mostly poker – generated by the poker boom. The law prohibited gambling business from “knowingly accepting payments in connection with the participation of another person in a bet or wager that involves the use of the internet and that is unlawful under any federal or state law.”
Washington lawmakers were enamored with that piece of legislation and wanted to duplicate it. Using even more general terms than the UIGEA, the Washington legislature took a bill from State Senator Margarita Prentice and approved it (House approved 93-to-5, Senate approved unanimously), ultimately instituting a constitutional amendment to the 1973 Gambling Act. The amendment stated:
“Whoever knowingly transmits or receives gambling information by telephone, telegraph, radio, semaphore, the internet, a telecommunications transmission system, or similar means, or knowingly installs or maintains equipment for the transmission or receipt of gambling information shall be guilty of a class C felony.”
For the record, a person found guilty of a class C felony could be imprisoned for up to five years or fined $10,000 – or both.
Legal Challenge to Online Poker Ban
Lee Rousso was a poker player who lived in Washington who was appalled by the 2006 law against online poker and igaming in general. Rousso also happened to be an attorney.
He sued the state of Washington on the grounds that the law violated the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, as the prohibition was cruel and unusual punishment. At the time, the Poker Players Alliance was a well-funded online poker advocate in America, so the group supported Rousso’s lawsuit.
Rousso lost his initial Superior Court case, appealed, and ended up in the Washington Supreme Court. He lost that one as well. The court upheld the amendment in 2010.
The law was strong enough to prompt PokerStars to pull its real-money poker play from residents in the state, though most of the rest of America could still access PokerStars-dot-com at the time. Other sites followed.
Several years later, Big Fish Casino ran afoul of Washington’s law. Big Fish was a play-money online casino that required no money to play, though in-app purchases were available. The bullet points of this situation were:
A Washington State woman opened an account on Big Fish, played, and bought more than $1,000 worth of extra play-money chips.
She sued Big Fish, stating that the site did offer real-money gambling online, which was against the 2006 constitutional amendment.
The US District Court rejected her case in 2016.
The woman appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which heard the case and ruled that Big Fish violated Washington’s gambling laws.
More players sued play-money sites like Playtika, High 5 Games, DoubleDown Interactive, and Huuuge Games.
All of this prompted PokerStars to even withdraw its play-money dot-net site from players located in Washington. Other sites did the same.
Future of Washington Online Poker
There doesn’t appear to be a future for online poker in Washington. With the state even willing to deem play-money gaming sites illegal, there is little to no chance of passing a law to legalize online poker or any type of igaming.
No one even tries.
The state did legalize sports betting in 2020, though only on tribal lands for in-person betting. Players wanting to be online must still be present on the reservation land to do so.
How to Play Online Poker from Washington
Technically, there are no options.
Global Poker, which is one of the fastest growing sites for poker in America, is essentially a free-play poker site, though players can earn real-money currency on the site. The FAQ section of the Global Poker website states that the site is available to most people residing in the United States “excluding outlying territories and the state of Washington.”
Most offshore-licensed poker sites no longer accept new players logging in from within the borders of Washington.
Even Zynga just lost a class action settlement by players in Washington in 2022. Zynga settled the case for $12 million. While this pertained specifically to casino-style games, it is fairly certain that Zynga no longer accepts any player from Washington for any type of online gaming, free or otherwise.
Why can’t I play free-play poker online from Washington?
Technically, a player could do so, but since all free-play apps offer some type of in-app purchases, that is enough to deem it illegal. It is very tough to skirt those laws when site operators won’t take any chances for Washington players.
Why is live poker legal but online poker illegal?
It is difficult to say. It appears that lawmakers do not know that online poker is played like live poker. In addition, there are many more safety measures in place for online poker players, including geolocation and licensing rules.
Are live poker rooms safe in Washington?
Yes. There are occasional incidents, but no more than in any other venue for entertainment. Most poker rooms employ security personnel for extra protection.
Why is online sportsbetting legal in Washington?
Before lawmakers approved this proposal, all of the tribal nations needed to approve it. And the tribes that wanted to offer it had to be willing to amend their gaming compacts with the state. Most Native American casinos understand the potential financial benefits of embracing sports betting.
Why does Global Poker exclude Washington players if it is legal?
The letter of the Washington law is specific about betting for anything of value. Even though Global Poker does not charge a fee to play poker on its site, the ability to buy any in-game chips can put the site in Washington’s crosshairs. The number of people who have successfully sued free-play sites and won is concerning to every online gaming operator, no matter the amount of free play offered.
Can I use a VPN to play online poker?
When using a VPN, you can change the location of your internet connection to appear as if you are playing from another location – even another country. This may work for Washington poker players, but many online operators can detect the use of a VPN and prevent you from playing.
What could make Washington changes its igaming laws?
From the example of sports betting, it appears that the agreement of all tribal nations in Washington could turn the tide. If tribal leaders want that option for their players, their influence could prompt lawmakers to reconsider online poker and/or casino games.
What is the legal age to play poker in Washington?
Anyone 18 or older can play poker legally or gamble with licensed properties.