Lawmakers in Washington state have decided that they know what's best for all their residents, and recently passed Senate Bill 6613, which "[reaffirms and clarifies] the prohibition against Internet and certain other interactive electronic or mechanical devices to engage in gambling."

So if you're a resident of Washington state, and you've been enjoying the freedom to play online poker in the privacy of your own home, your state Senate just decided to take that freedom away from you.

And if the prohibition wasn't bad enough, the genius Senate, which passed the bill unanimously, decided to make Internet gaming a Class C Felony, which carries a punishment of up to ten years in prison, and puts online poker players in the same class as registered sex offenders. That is just brilliant. Can anyone else smell the creeping facism? What will Washington state lawmakers decide to make illegal in your own home next?

Unlike most of this completely intrusive, totally unecessary anti-gaming legislation that's recently been pushed at the federal level by Republicans, the Washington bill was introduced by a Democrat, State Senator Margarita Prentice. The bill passed the House 93-5, proving that not everyone in Washington's state government is totally insane, but was fast-tracked and signed into law by Democrat Governor Christine Gregoire. The law will take effect on June 7th.

(via Bonus Code IGGY)

In the last month, two major cheating scandals went down and one involved well known internet pro Justin Bonomo. 

He had been playing multiple accounts on Party Poker and Poker Stars and was caught shortly after the JJProdigy debacle.

It's been almost a month since Justin last posted something on his journal. He addressed the entire scandal in a post Wednesday called I Screwed Up.

He attempted to apologize, but still managed to get one last word in on how his actions were justified.

Bloggers have been talking about this in various posts. Scurvy Dog at Sound of a Suckout, had a great post where he offered up his opinion on the latest post from Justin.

Several CardSquad readers pointed us to several different sources who all have the same very bad news: Republican Jim Leach of Iowa's bill to eliminate online gaming passed the House Financial Services Committee, and is set to go to the full house for a vote.

If the bill is signed into law, it would "prohibit gambling establishments from accepting credit cards, checks, wire transfers, and electronic funds transfers in support of gaming transactions," according to Lou Krieger.

I know that Congress is very busy providing oversight on the White House, and working very hard to address their growing corruption scandals,  so I'm very impressed that Congress is taking time and focusing their energy on eliminating what is clearly a pressing national problem. I mean, how many times have you taken a moment to stop talking about our flag-burning epidemic to wonder when Congress is going to step in and make it illegal for people like us to play poker online with our friends or for fun or profit?

As I wrote earlier in the week, this is equal parts political theater and classic mafia-style shake-down: Congress wants the online gaming sites to play ball and start lavishing them with lobbyist dollars, and douchebag Congressmen like Rep. Leach need to send out press releases which play to thier base and deflect attention away from what a miserable failure Congress has been in the last five years.

Lou Krieger adds, "According to Rep. Leach, "H.R. 4411 will create strong tools to help federal and state governments enforce existing gambling prohibitions. Unlike in brick-and-mortar casinos in the United States where legal protections for bettors exist and where there are some compensatory social benefit in jobs and tax revenues, Internet gambling sites principally yield only liabilities to Americans."

Leach’s words appears to be a call of sorts for legislation that would regulate online wagering. But his bill offers no regulatory solution whatsoever. Instead of regulating and taxing a growing, multi-billion dollar business, his approach seeks to eliminate it.

The efforts designed to outlaw online gaming appear to mirror our national effort to outlaw alcohol in an earlier era.

It was a law almost no one supported. It led to the growth of organized crime in this country. And in the end, it was simply repealed."

This is a law that the overwhelming majority of Amercans do not want, and we certainly do not need. Prohibition did not work in the 1920s, and it will not work today.

Millions of Americans play online poker. If this bill becomes law, those millions of Americans will not stop playing; we'll just find a different way to cash out and fund our accounts. Does Congress really want to make us into criminals?

Ed McMahon has long been associated with giant cardboard checks and dumping huge sums of money on people, so he was a natural choice to help open a new casino in Muncie, Indiana: [Ed McMahon] joined Mayor Dan Canan in cutting the ribbon last night on the Royal Crown Hold 'Em Club.

The legality of the games have been challenged, but since the Royal Crown club is neither a bingo hall nor a bar it doesn't have a charity gaming permit or liquor license at risk. Boy, I tell you what: as we face bills in Congress which would turn online poker players into criminals, and read story after story about small homegames or low-stakes tourneys getting busted, I have to wonder: when is law enforcement going to catch up with the rest of America? Poker is our generation's bridge. It is wildly popular, and it's not going anywhere. It is fantastically hypocritical for states to have legalized lotteries while criminalizing poker.

Poker News dot Com reports that a new poker magazine has hit the shelves. This one is aimed at women, as its title, Woman Poker Player suggests: There is quality in the writing staff that has been assembled for "Woman Poker Player" as well. [Editor Barbara] Enright joins in to pen articles as well as other respected female poker players Susie Isaacs, Cat Hulbert, Roxci Rhodes, online player Tanya Peck and humorist Jen Leo. The excellence in writing isn't limited to just the female players, however; such testosterone powered poker players as Lou Krieger, Max Shapiro, John Vorhaus and PokerNews' Ashley Adams offer compelling articles as well.

The articles aren't broken up throughout the magazine (one of my personal pet peeves) and in general have an excellent mix of information. The strategy articles neatly intermingle with recipes for healthy drink alternatives and a view of poker through a woman's eyes. A couple of the articles (dealing with relationships in poker and one writer's unfortunate health situation and how she was dealing with it) gave the magazine a nice feel and truly seemed aimed toward their audience, which neatly separated "Woman Poker Player" from other poker magazines. I link to PokerNews all the time, and I want to take a moment to thank all their writers for putting together such a great resource. If you haven't subbed them in Bloglines, you're missing out.

Finally, there is an incredibly entertaining account of a Tuesday Night game in Tulsa, OK, that you've got to read: I can't tell you where I am because what's going on is illegal. I can't tell you who's here, either, or how much money they're gambling, because that's also illegal and, more importantly, there will be wives and girlfriends, not to mention other people to whom they owe money, reading this.
 
It's 9:30 on a Tuesday night and there's the unmistakable sound of cards, ESPN Sportscenter, and men getting away with something.
 
Suffice it to say there are five of them (and only one willing to use his real name) and their beverages: Linus is drinking red Zinfindel; Oklahoma Jim is drinking dirty Martinis (no Vermouth, all olive juice and vodka); Big Rod is drinking red wine and would be smoking a big-ass Macanudo but he's been overruled; AG, who's the pro, and the only one not wearing glasses, is drinking coffee; Michael has a Coors Light on the floor behind him; and Crush is drinking water because he says "he wants to stay alert during competition," which makes Oklahoma Jim laugh.
 
"Yeah, imported water from Arkansas." Barry Friedman's story reminds me of my own Lying in Odessa series from WWdN, and makes me want to get in the car and find an underground game to play in right now.

Costa Rica has made several efforts to make their country an attractive locale for online gaming sites. So what do the local authorities do when Bodog set up a poker reality show in San Jose? Why, send 100 cops to kick in the door and bust up the game, of course.

When this story first hit the wires a few days ago, my first thought was, "this is a shake down, because the Bodog guys didn't pay off the right officials." My second thought was, "Wait. No. This was during the filming of a reality television show. I bet this whole thing was set up." I suspect that the truth, should it ever come out, is somewhere in between the two: the Costa Rican power players surely want to get paid off by Canada's latest billionaire, Calvin Ayre. At the same time, I'm sure the massive police raid made for some fantastic and dramatic television, which helps spread Bodog's outlaw lifestyle brand.

Bill Rini has some excellent thoughts on the raid, over at his blog: "Now, I’m not attempting to suggest that Costa Rica is a bad place (the scuba diving is some of the best in the world). The State Dept. information above refers specifically to San Jose, the capital. But it does show that billionaires playing poker in their own homes is not a 100 cop sort of incident. It’s like a food cart vendor in Tijuana getting busted by 100 cops for a health code violation. No, this is more of a case where a law exists on the books so politicians and law enforcement use the most liberal reading of the law in order to promote their own agendas. They’re acting like America!!"

Acting like America, indeed. As many of you know, there is a bill before congress right now which would criminalize online gaming, including online poker. That bill is being cynically presented as vital to national security, and to protect The Children®.

But, like the Costa Rican raid, it's equal parts shakedown and theatre: Congress wants the online gaming sites to play ball and start lavishing them with lobbyist dollars, and douchebag Congressmen like its sponsor Rep. Goodlatte (R-VA 6) need to send out press releases which play to thier base and deflect attention away from what a miserable failure Congress has been in the last five years.

As Bill says, "Either way, the laws are being used to benefit those in power rather than to protect the interests of the people. And that is the biggest crime of all."

Image of the Bodog Girls from Bodognation. You're welcome.

The Wall Street Journal Online has asked if Congress should ban Internet gambling, and the people have spoken. As of 5pm EST today, a whopping 82% do not believe that it should be banned, though not all agree as at least one Commenter indicates:

"How much gambling is enough? People who gamble on the web should have to post a bond sufficient to pay their bankruptcy filing fees."

What do you think - should it be banned or not? You can leave comments below or cast your own vote through this link.  

(Thanks, Kendall)

I always like checking out the Two Plus Two forums to see what’s going on. There’s always a lot of chatter about NYC card rooms getting raided by the police.

The NYPD just won't allow large card rooms to operate in the city anymore. They’ve been shutting them all down. It’s unfortunate too since most people in NY and NJ love playing in these clubs.

The good thing is that not all of the clubs have been shut down. The smaller clubs have seemed to thrive in this year long assault on illegal card rooms.

The smaller clubs provide players with a place to play but unfortunately the game selection drops off since the clientele is much smaller. I guess it’s better than nothing.

The Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office is looking for a man who allegedly stabbed another man with a steak knife over a poker debt. The alleged stabbing took place in the butt, Bob.

According to EmeraldCoast.com, "Jace Moore, 22, confronted Dustin Danner, 23, about money he was owed from a recent poker match. When Danner did not pay up, the situation got ugly.

Moore grabbed a steak knife and attempted to stab Danner in the chest. When his attempts failed, Moore took the knife below the belt. He proceeded to stab Danner four times in the buttocks."

If you have information related to Moore's whereabouts, the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office would like you to call (850) 983-1190.

Josh Arieh wrote a post about an incident that occurred at a local poker game in Atlanta. Josh just recently started playing in this game and even recommended it to a few people.

Gambling is illegal in Georgia like most places but Josh thought this game was safe. Unfortunately, he was wrong because the local game got robbed.

Two men robbed the place and even made everyone strip down to their underwear.

Criminal charges against three Colorado poker players were recently dismissed. The three players were originally busted by a SWAT team in a raid that happened back in April.

The defendants were caught playing in an illegal poker game located in a restaurant. One of the players busted during this raid was a former police chief of a neighboring town!

Many people thought the police overreacted with the SWAT team. Shortly after the arrest, the District Attorney's office decided to dismiss the charges against all 22 players.

Late last week, the Nassau County police on Long Island, New York raided an illegal poker room. The police confiscated $10,000 in cash during this raid.
 
Six people were arrested. They were all charged with second degree counts of promoting an illegal gambling operation.

Thursday's raid was the second in about two weeks. On January 18th, seven people were arrested on similar charges.

The owners of the Farmingdale card room were known to run advertisements for their club online. Each advertisement included their address as well as directions to the place.

Day 2 of the 2006 Aussie Millions No Limit Hold’em Main Event finished up yesterday. The total prize pool is $3,150,674 and 418 players signed up to play.

Gerry Fitt is the chip leader right now. Phil Ivey, Scott Fischman, Kenna James and Antonio Esfandiari are all doing very well in this event. Go check out Card Player Magazine for more details on chip counts.

*****

The Borgata Winter Open is getting ready to start later this week. Dr. Pauly will be covering every event for the Borgata.

He will also be live blogging the tournaments. If you didn’t know, the $10,000 Main Event is scheduled as a World Poker Tour event. Check out Dr. Pauly's poker blog in the coming days.

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Todd Erks, the owner of a bar called Todd’s Place, is collecting signatures in South Dakota to get a referendum on an upcoming ballot in November. His petition is looking to clarify the difference between games of chance and games of skill.

Erks’ main goal is to redefine poker as a game of skill in hopes that the State legalizes it. He started his campaign after recently finding himself in trouble with the law because of the No Limit Hold’em tournaments he was hosting at his bar.

He knew it was illegal in South Dakota but thought it was alright since the police never raided or shut down his tourneys in the past.

Full Tilt Poker has released a version of their software that allows Apple/Mac users to play poker online. This is great news! Check out these links for more details.

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The Bellagio in Las Vegas is now spreading their $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournaments on a daily basis at 5pm.

You get $5,000 in chips to start the tournament. They also have $240 satellites for this event that run all day starting at 9am.

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Joe Hachem has lucked out. He doesn’t have to pay as much tax as he originally thought on his WSOP winnings.

On Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that they were investigating poker legend Doyle Brunson.

The SEC is looking into Doyle’s actions concerning his $700 million take over bid for WPT Enterprises Inc.

The SEC advised that the formal investigation will focus on the legality of Brunson's offer and the subsequent decision to publicize it.