Poker Players Find Ally in Gubernatorial Candidate

The online poker debate is still raging and citizens in the state of Washington who enjoy playing poker online have found another ally against the online gambling ban in the state.  Gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi openly expressed his opposition to the gambling ban while giving a radio interview last week, making sure that everyone who was listening to 710 KIRO at the time knows his feelings about it.  He was on the Seattle radio show to discuss the traffic and congestion issues of Washington State and what he felt was needed to balance the state’s budget.

It was during the listener question and answer session that Rossi was able to voice his opinion.  The first question to hit the line was about his views on the online poker ban.  Talk show host Monson, who has been following this debate closely, asked the candidate, “If you play online poker in this state, you can go to prison for 10 years with a felony rap sheet. What would you do about that?”

Rossi flat out told him that he would never have signed the bill and help it get passed into law.  He told the listeners that getting caught playing online poker brought a felony charge with it, making the players as guilty as someone who was convicted of child pornography.  He agreed that a rap like this could very easily ruin a person’s life.  He feels that the punishment does not fit the crime pointing out that it didn’t make sense to charge a “college kid that's playing poker on his computer” with a felony.

Rossi made no comment about whether or not he would get involved in overturning the law himself.  He did state that he would gladly sign any legislation that overturned it, but remained mum on whether he’d actually try to push it into effect.  

Online poker players in Washington lost an even bigger ally when Lee Rousso decided to drop out of the race a few months ago.  Rousso has a pending lawsuit with the state against the online poker ban.  Thanks to a change in the primary format, Rousso was not able to get on the ballot for November, forcing him and his ban ideas to drop out of the race.  He had high hopes of getting the ban repealed, but without the backing of the governor’s race, he will have to fight like everyone else.  Rousso has since joined Poker Players Alliance and is working with them on getting the online poker ban overturned, which was one of his main goals in his bid for governor.