Ultimate hypocrisy: Marijuana is legal, online poker a felony

You can smoke pot legally in Washington state now, but you can’t play poker online and KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson calls it the ultimate hypocrisy.

“It’s insane,” says Dori. “You know, you’ve got the state government telling us they have to raise our taxes, they need more of our money. Yet, because we have certain politicians who got bought and paid for by other gambling interests who wanted to protect their monopoly, suddenly I’m a felon if I want to play even free or 5, 10, 25 cent a hand Texas Hold ‘Em in our state.”

A longtime Washington state recreational poker player and activist is trying to change that. Curtis Woodward tells Dori he launched the Washington Internet Poker Initiative to convince voters and lawmakers to change a longstanding state law that prohibits online poker of any kind.

Woodward says it is ridiculous players have to ask the state for permission to play for money among themselves.

“The state gives us permission to play in a tribal casino for unlimited amounts of money, yet we play the same game for nickels and dimes online and we could go to jail?”

Woodward says he had planned to push an initiative, but ultimately decided it was too expensive and legally problematic, and has opted to go through the Legislature instead.

His proposal calls for the creation of a regulated intrastate Internet poker market. The two-tier system would allow for tribes and licensed card rooms to offer online gaming, and large international operators like Pokerstars to operate Internet poker networks within Washington state.

The companies would pay what Woodward calls “a significant fee,” that would cover all the costs of state regulation.

“This solution should please everyone. It can and should also serve as a model for other states to follow, as it also opens the door for easy interstate cooperation and the ability to share player liquidity on common platforms across state lines,” he says.

Dori says it’s “despicable” lawmakers ever banned even low stakes Internet poker while taking thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from tribes to protect their casino interests.

“For the Legislature to make felons out of their citizens in exchange for campaign cash it’s one of the sleaziest bit of politics that you’ll ever see,” he says.

Woodward, being a bit more diplomatic, says he can’t disagree. But he hopes by working with lawmakers, the tribes and other gaming interests, all parties will see it as a win-win that can benefit players, casinos and card room operators alike.