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The online poker bill of Washington state has failed to advance.

Last month house bill 1114 was introduced by State Representatives Vincent Buys and Sherry Appleton. The bill aimed to legalize and regulate online gambling operators.

However the online poker bill died quickly, as it did the year before. The deadline was last Wednesday, 17, and the bill failed to advance through the state Senate. Therefore the bill deemed dead and probably it will only be considered again in 2017.

Last year the bill was also up for consideration but also did not gain momentum. On January 2015 the online poker bill was introduced, but it was dead by mid-February like this time.

Currently, it is not legal to play online poker in the Evergreen State. For legal reasons Washingtonians wouldn’t be welcome in many poker site even during the poker boom era.

After the online poker bill failed to advance in Washington, it kept us wondering which state would step up and legalize online poker. California is one of the states considering it and many are hopping they will pass legislation, but it does not seem it will happen any time soon.

Due to California’s massive population, legalizing online poker in the state would be seen as great step forward. However the deck is stacked against it, despite efforts of the Poker Players Alliance.

Pennsylvania is the state with the best chances of passing legislation. Many believe that the state will pass legislation in 2016, perhaps by the middle of the year.

Even though the population of Pennsylvania is much smaller than that of California, it is far larger than that of Delaware’s, a nearby and where online poker is legal.  Besides Delaware online poker is also legal in New Jersey and Nevada.

A couple of days ago an online poker bill has advanced through its first step in the State of New York, which is a great first step. Even though there is still no timetable on when the bill will pass, there is hope it will happen in the near future.

In an attempt to prevent any state in the U.S. from legalizing online poker, Sheldon Adelson introduced the RAWA bill. The aim of this bill is to group poker with other forms of online gambling, like roulette and slot machines. This bill has been largely unembraced by the congress.

If this bill would pass, an online poker bill would never be able to pass in states as Washington.  Sheldon Adelson is definitely against a poker carve-out.

At the moment, states in America are getting the opportunity to decide if online poker should become legal in their state or not. However, from the 50 American states not many are giving this serious consideration.

 

 

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