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PPA Rallying Behind Rousso

Professional players supporting case against Washington’s online poker ban by attending gathering Thursday.

Tuesday 13th May 2008

In America, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has announced that it will stage a rally outside the King County Superior Court in Kent, Washington, on Thursday in support of Lee Rousso as he finally gets his day in court.

The poker players' rights group stated that the gathering would be held in order to show its support for Rousso in advance of a hearing for his lawsuit against the state's online gambling ban. The organisation revealed that professional players Barry Greenstein and Andy Bloch would be in attendance to show their support.

Rousso is a lawyer and the PPA’s state representative for Washington and is challenging the constitutionality of state’s online gambling ban. The former Gubernatorial candidate filed his lawsuit on the first day of the 2007 World Series of Poker main event but his case was beset by numerous delays.

The State of Washington previously demanded information as part of the discovery phase that Rousso believed was confidential and breached his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The courts agreed and Rousso’s hearing date was set for May 15.

Rousso is alleging that the state's online gambling ban fails to comply with the Federal Government’s Wire Act, which does not extend criminal liability to players unlike the Washington law that makes it a felony to gamble over the Internet.

He is also accusing the state of imposing its ban on online poker in order to protect its own gambling industry. Rousso stated that this is a clear violation of the US Constitution's commerce clause forbidding individual states from passing protectionist laws against other states' business.

 


Source: OnlineCasinoNews