Online gambling in the United States is illegal, but we all know this. Running a gambling operation without consent from one of the countries many gaming boards is illegal, but, again, we all know this. Still, there are some who try to circumnavigate these rules. They play on technicalities and jump through loopholes. Nick Jenkins, operator of the online gambling operation Betcha.com found this out when the Washington State Supreme Court shut down his operation. “The Washington State Supreme Court issued its opinion today, and we got creamed,” he stated in a blog. The Washington State Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Betcha.com had operated as an illegal bookmaker. Jenkins launched the site in 2007 and had his offices raided and shut down thirteen days later.
The idea behind the online gambling site was that players were able to allowed to make bets against each other. Jenkins claims that he was not operating a true online gambling site because players were allowed to welch on loosing bets. Of course by doing so, they could garner a bad review from other gamblers which would make it difficult to find wagering partners in the future. “The Court never reached the question of whether Betcha bettors were ‘gambling.’ Thus, the Court held that I was engaged in professional gambling even if no one was actually gambling,” he stated and added, “Amazing.”
The Washington State Supreme Court Justice, Tom Chambers wrote in a statement, “Under the statutory definition of bookmaking, it is immaterial whether or not Betcha users were engaged in gambling activity.” The Supreme Court, basically, overrules an opinion by Washington State Court of Appeals which sided with Jenkins. A surprised Jenkins went on to say, “Never in a million years did I expect an opinion like this one.” He blasted the court in his blog asking if the court even opened his brief or looked at the Revised Code of Washington.
