WA gambling regulators raid Internet betting site

10 July 2007

As reported by: PilotOnline.com
Even as a Renton attorney is suing the state to overturn its ban on Internet gambling, state Gambling Commission investigators moved against a new Seattle-based Internet betting site.

The topic has the U.S. mired in international trade disputes.

In a complaint filed last week in King County Superior Court, lawyer and poker aficionado Lee Rousso claims Washington's online wagering ban conflicts with the U.S. Constitution's protections of interstate trade.

"I think my chances are darn good," Rousso told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

State lawmakers approved the Internet gambling ban by wide margins, and it went into effect in June 2006. It extended previous prohibitions on gambling by telephone or telegraph and upped the crime to a felony, rather than a gross misdemeanor.

On Monday, state agents with a search warrant confiscated laptops and computer monitors from Betcha.com.

"This is ridiculous," said Nick Jenkins, founder and chief executive of Betcha.com, which he describes as an "honor-based betting platform" modeled in part after eBay.

Jenkins is seeking a restraining order against the state. Susan Arland, the commission's spokeswoman, confirmed that the company's computers were seized but declined further comment.

Jenkins is not challenging the legality of the state ban; he simply says Betcha.com isn't governed by it.


Article By: PilotOnline.com

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