Confessions of a Donk

Some of you may know, Washington State was the first state in the US to be dropped first by Pokerstars, and then FTP, prior to Black Friday. This was due to a State law passed in 2006, and which survived a narrow court challenge in 2009. Once that challenge failed, the sites decided against continuing to offer play to Washington State. Unfortunately for them, it was too little too late.

Violation of that State law in Washington is at the cornerstone of the Black Friday cases, and the Washington State Gaming Commission worked hand in hand with the DoJ to bring the cases that shut down the big three sites. But now the landscape has changed.

With the recent reversal in position by the DoJ with regard to the Wire Act, one by one states are passing their own online poker legislation. Even with Federal legislation, Washington would be still out in the cold under the current RCW. But the people can act to change the law themselves, without help or support of the State Legislature, thanks to the Initiative process.

So, in January of next year, at the earliest date allowed by statute, an Initiative to the Voters of Washington State will be introduced that will carve out an exception to that 2006 language specifically for poker, and create some framework under which online poker can be offered in our state. But that is the easy part.

We will need to gather signatures, our goal is 300K to assure we meet the required 241k valid signatures, by the end of June, to qualify for the November 2013 ballot. It will take a small army of volunteers to collect the needed signatures, but surely this can be done.

Once qualified for the ballot, a 60% yes vote is required for this gambling issue, so a real campaign will need to be mounted at that time.

Between now and then, we need to rally as much support as we can get. Spread the word to every poker player you know in Washington to get on board and help make this a reality!

http://www.facebook.com/WashingtonOnlinePokerInitiative

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Comments (3)

anyone play on everleaf sites? After WA state players were barred from first Pokerstars and then Full Tilt, I found myself on LuvinPoker. Not the best software in the world, but still enjoyable all things considered.

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Comments (2)

So let me relate my situation to you . . . .

Full Tilt announced that you could no longer play on their site from within the State of Washington back on November 10th of 2010. At that time I put in for a bank transfer for the bulk of my bankroll, at which time I was told processing would take 10-15 business days . . . .

After about 20 business days I inquired to when I might see my funds, and was told "we are experiencing problems with our 3rd party payers, and it is taking longer than 15 business days . . . "

No idea how long, repeated e-mails received the same reply. Days became weeks, weeks have become months, and I got nothing but "rest assured your funds are safe . . . "

On January 5th I received an e-mail from them saying that "the situation is resolved . . ." and that they would now be sending me a check. Ok, at least that is something, but still no check.

Not only no check, but no reply to e-mails, other than "we received your e-mail and a representative will get back to you shortly . . . "

For three days now, that is what I get. They aren't even replying to me.

The internet poker community as a whole should take note of this, and realize that if it can happen to me over a relative small amount of money, it could happen to any of you over thousands of dollars.

One of the main excuses our government gives to justify prohibitions on internet poker is that companies could default on our money, and it seems to me that Full Tilt is doing it's best to prove them right. There is no action I can take, other than post this info on the forums to make everyone aware that Full Tilt dissolving and making off with your money is a very real possibility, in fact a probability that at some point they will be forced from the US market altogether and will go away with YOUR MONEY! Everyone with money on account with Full Tilt should be concerned with this situation.

It is worth noting that when Pokerstars took similar action, there was no problem getting my money at all.

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