Poker player loses challenge to online gambling law
The advent of online gambling has dramatically changed the landscape of state efforts to regulate betting activity, both legal and illegal.
One central question that remains to be decided is the extent to which states can act without infringing on the power of the federal government.
A Washington poker player has just lost the argument that the state exceeded it powers when it criminalized the transmission of “gambling information” over the Internet.
Afraid that the new law spoiled his fun playing poker games online, the man sued saying the state encroached on the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause.
Unsurprisingly, in Rousso v. Washington the state court of appeals sided with the state legislature, finding that protecting Washington residents from the “ills associated with gambling” outweighed the “relatively small” cost of compliance imposed on out-of-state businesses.
Moving to the heartland, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that a compulsive gambler who lost $125,000 in a single night can’t sue a casino for failing to curb her pathology. (Caesar’s Riverboat Casino v. Kephart)
Finally, the East Coast gives us this gambling tidbit from the live-and-let-live crowd.
Would you believe that an intrepid New Jersey legislator, with obviously nothing better to do and an apparent nose for publicity, has filed a lawsuit to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act and allow sports betting nationwide? (AP)
— Pat Murphy
