Washington State attorney Lee Rousso recently got the Washington Supreme Court to rule on the recently imposed ban against online poker. Rousso presented a law suit in which he argued that the 2006 ban imposed on online gambling (the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act – UIGEA) was unconstitutional as it violated the Commerce Clause stated in it.
Washington Supreme Court Judge, Justice Richard B. Sanders expressed his disagreement, claiming that the legislation did not overreach puclib policy nor violates he Commerce Clause in the US Constitution. It was a hard hit and a lot of online gamblers have expressed their disappointment with the ruling, including John Pappas, the Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA).
Rousso is a very avid online poker player and a lawyer, he has been chasing this case for three years and it is inspiring to see how he refuses to give up. As for future plans Rousso has stated that he will now appeal the decision with the US Supreme Court, taking the case to a federal level. He has asked the online gambling community to support him in the fight against the ban.
“Poker players in this state need to make their voices heard. Now more than ever we need to rally together to fight this outrageous law. I hope the poker community will stand with me as I appeal this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Rousso said in a statement.
There are a lot of pros and cons in both banning the activity and regulating it. Personally, I believe the United States as a whole would benefit greatly from the revenue raised from taxing online gambling and that players would be happy to enjoy their freedom and doing activities they choose to do. I express my full support to Mr. Rousso and the PPA in the fight against the ban imposed on online gambling, I feel that it is because of people like them that we are getting extremely close to being successful.