TOW News
Washington state officials public statements induce a gambling information web site to shut down. The hypothetic crime? Aiding and abetting.
"The first casualty in the state's war on Internet gambling is a local Web site where nobody was actually doing any gambling." reports Seattle Times staff columnist Danny Westneat.
"What a Bellingham man did on his site was write about online gambling. He reviewed Internet casinos. He had links to them, and ran ads by them. He fancied himself a guide to an uncharted frontier, even compiling a list of "rogue casinos" that had bilked gamblers. All that, says the state — the ads, the linking, even the discussing — violates a new state law barring online wagering or using the Internet to transmit "gambling information." continues Westneat.
Todd Boutte, a former Wal-Mart worker in Bellingham, is the first victim of Washington state new law that makes online gambling a felony. Boutte owned a casino review called IntegrityCasinoGuide.com.
Boutte froze when a Bellingham Herald article reported state officials saying his site was illegal. Soon after Boutte took his site offline.
According to Washington state officials writing about online gambling in a way that seems promotional can earn a cease-and-desist order, and potentially, a criminal charge, says Westneat.
"More may be on the way." added Danny Westneat in his column. "The state plans to hire an investigator to enforce the new law."
These shocking news hit our desk less than a week after the LA Times published a vibrant editorial which underlined the hypocrisy of anti gambling bills and asked for the legalization of online gambling.
Originally published on June 15 2006 - TheOnlineWire.com
Washington state officials public statements induce a gambling information web site to shut down. The hypothetic crime? Aiding and abetting.
"The first casualty in the state's war on Internet gambling is a local Web site where nobody was actually doing any gambling." reports Seattle Times staff columnist Danny Westneat.
"What a Bellingham man did on his site was write about online gambling. He reviewed Internet casinos. He had links to them, and ran ads by them. He fancied himself a guide to an uncharted frontier, even compiling a list of "rogue casinos" that had bilked gamblers. All that, says the state — the ads, the linking, even the discussing — violates a new state law barring online wagering or using the Internet to transmit "gambling information." continues Westneat.
Todd Boutte, a former Wal-Mart worker in Bellingham, is the first victim of Washington state new law that makes online gambling a felony. Boutte owned a casino review called IntegrityCasinoGuide.com.
Boutte froze when a Bellingham Herald article reported state officials saying his site was illegal. Soon after Boutte took his site offline.
According to Washington state officials writing about online gambling in a way that seems promotional can earn a cease-and-desist order, and potentially, a criminal charge, says Westneat.
"More may be on the way." added Danny Westneat in his column. "The state plans to hire an investigator to enforce the new law."
These shocking news hit our desk less than a week after the LA Times published a vibrant editorial which underlined the hypocrisy of anti gambling bills and asked for the legalization of online gambling.
Originally published on June 15 2006 - TheOnlineWire.com