It could be dangerous to publish them in the state of Washington, which has passed a new statute barring the use of the Internet to transmit “gambling information”. “”My suggestion to you is to remove from your paper any advice about online gambling and any links to illegal sites,” state gambling commission director Rick Day told a Seattle Times columnist. (Danny Westneat, “This column may be illegal”, Seattle Times, Jun. 15)(via Balko). Related: Apr. 21 and Aug. 9, 2004; Nov. 18, 2005.
One Comment
While an AG’s threat might be enough to shut down a small website operator, my guess is that going after a newspaper will be a quick way to have his law challenged and overturned. If the obvious free speech issues were not enough, there is a commerce clause issue in that the state allows its own gambling but not out-of-state competition. Interestingly, papers that printed protest information and encouragement for civil rights protestors to commit civil disobediance and break the law were also aiding and abetting under the definition given by the commission director quoted in this article.