RCW 9.46.240 imposes a burden on interstate commerce by walling off the Washington market for Internet gambling from interstate commerce. The extent of this burden is mitigated somewhat. First, the ban does not prevent or hinder Internet gambling businesses from operating throughout the rest of the world. Second, those businesses can easily exclude Washingtonians. If an individual during registration marks his or her location as the state of Washington, the gambling web site can end the registration there.

While online gambling has always been illegal in Washington, the law, passed in 2006, clarified that the Internet was included in the state and federal ban on remote gambling and also increased the charge from a gross misdemeanor to a felony. Courts across the world have been upholding online gambling bans, most recently in Sweden and the Netherlands [JURIST reports]. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act [HR 4411 materials], a federal act that bans banks and financial institutions from intentionally accepting payments from credit cards, checks or electronic fund transfers related to unlawful Internet bets, came into affect earlier this year.