The state of Washington quietly passed a bill that makes playing online poker illegal. The bill, SB 6613, will officially take effect on June 7th, 2006. From then on the mere act of playing poker on the Internet in Washington State could get you in prison for 10 years, the maximum penalty associated with a Class C Felony.
SB 6613 was initially drafted by Sen. Margarita Prentice. When lawmakers found that the bill didn't get much opposition, they amended the bill with more severe penalties. In effect playing online poker is now considered a Class C Felony, which means you can get up to 10 years in prison for doing so. The bill was signed off by Governor Christine Gregoire on March 28th, and will become come into effect on June 7th, 2006.
Ten years in prison for playing poker on the internet by your own choice from the privacy of your own home? It's beyond our comprehension a law like that could have passed in a US state, but apparently it has. Isn't there such thing as the Freedom of Speech and Choice? But what do we know about Liberty, let's ask a few famous US founding fathers to explain to us the concept of Liberty.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
The following quote is attributed to John Adams: "Be not intimidated.. nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice."
George Washington said: "It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it."
Finally, Washington also said:"To err is natural; to rectify error is glory." We can only hope the Washington State legislators will someday come to their senses and opt-in for a more enlightened vision on online poker, but the immediate future looks very, very bleak.
Update: A couple of days after posting this article we found an interesting speech from Noam Chomsky on YouTube in which he concludes that: "The question in brief is wether democracy and freedom are values to be preserved or threats to be avoided. In this possibly terminal phase of human existence democracy and freedom are more than values to be treasured. They may well be essential to survival."