Washington state players banned from PokerStars

Washington state players banned from PokerStars

Friday, 1 October 2010

Bad news for fish, sharks and grinders across the Atlantic – players in Washington State can no longer play on the world's biggest poker site. Although withdrawals are not affected, playing at an online poker site has now become a no-no.

PokerStars sent an e-mail to Washington players bearing the unfortunate news as soon as it was confirmed: “To date, PokerStars has operated in Washington on the basis of legal opinions where the central advice was that the state could not constitutionally regulate Internet poker, or at least could not discriminate in favor of local card rooms and against online sites.


“Last week, however, the Washington Supreme Court for the first time rejected that position and upheld the state’s Internet gaming prohibition. In light of this decision, following extensive consultation with our legal advisors, we believe that the right course of action is to now block real money play by Washington residents on the PokerStars.com site.”


Lee Rousso, Washington state director of the Poker Players’ Alliance, protested the decision but was overturned in a federal court. He intends to take the appeal to the Supreme Court.


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