| Betcha.com Judged As Illegal By Washington Supreme Court |
The State Supreme Court in Washington yesterday overturned an appeal court's decision regarding the legality of Betcha.com's operations, thereby rendering their activities illegal under state law.
Betcha.com are an online bookmakers fronting as a social networking site, which allowed its users to place bets amongst themselves, taking a small percentage fee for their troubles. Users could bet on anything “from sporting events, to political contests, to whether the moon would be full on a given night", with a bet cap of $1,000 (£650).
Back in 2007, the Gambling Commission in Washington shut down Seattle-based Betcha.com on the grounds that they were violating state laws by acting as an online gambling company and accepting bookmakers fees (both of which are illegal). The company appealed the closure and, in February of last year, the appeals court found in Betcha.com's favour, judging that they weren't offering gambling services thereby allowing them to continue trading.
According to Betcha.com, because customers weren't obliged to honour their bets – once a bet was lost, the losing customer had 72 hours in which to decide whether they were going to pay the winner or not (in which case their site “honour rating” would be adversely affected) – the bets couldn't be considered as binding and therefore they didn't provide users with any gambling service.
Betcha.com said: “Unlike any other betting venue on the planet, Betcha bettors always retain the right to withdraw their bets . . . . Therefore, they are not ‘risking’ anything. No risk...no gamble.”
But all this has now changed as the Gambling Commission took the case to the Washington Supreme Court, which yesterday ruled: “We hold that Betcha was engaged in professional gambling because it engaged in ‘bookmaking’ as that term is defined under the gambling act. Based on this conclusion, we further hold that Betcha transmitted ‘gambling information’ and used ‘gambling records’ as part of its business.”
Justice Tom Chambers wrote: "Under the statutory definition of bookmaking, it is immaterial whether or not Betcha users were engaged in gambling activity."
Leaving the court to claim: “The Court of Appeals’ decision on these issues is reversed and summary judgment in favor of the state is reinstated.”
Nicholas Jenkins, founder of Betcha.com, remained in a state of disbelief: "Never in a million years did I expect an opinion like this one. The court's error is so obvious that I wonder if a single justice even cracked our brief, let alone the Revised Code of Washington."
No immediate criminal charges will be faced by Mr. Jenkins as the suit was filed as a civil one, and the attorney general has no power regarding criminal jurisdiction of civil cases.
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