Judge deals blow to online poker players

Game enthusiasts tried to get gambling ban overturned

A King County judge Thursday upheld a state law that bans Internet gambling in a widely watched case filed by a Renton poker player.

Lee Rousso had argued that the 2006 law, which made Internet gambling a felony, violates the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause and is cruel and unusual punishment. After the hearing, he relayed Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts’ decision to roughly 70 disappointed poker enthusiasts gathered for a rally outside the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

“That’s just the way the game is played,” said Rousso, an attorney. “The court of law is probably the biggest casino there is.” He promised an appeal.

The crowd included men who live with their parents, women with college-age children, parents with sleeping infants, and poker celebrities who showered the crowd with autographs. Most in the group wore crimson T-shirts proclaiming, “POKER is not a crime.”

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