A King County judge in the State of Washington Thursday upheld a state law that bans online poker and other forms of Internet gambling.

According to media reports, poker player Lee Rousso had argued that the 2006 law, which made online poker and other forms of Internet gambling a felony, violates the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause and is cruel and unusual punishment.

After the hearing, Rousso relayed Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts’ decision to about 70 disappointed poker enthusiasts who had gathered for a rally outside the courthouse, the reports said.

“That’s just the way the game is played,” said Rousso, an attorney who is a member of the poker lobbying group the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). “The court of law is probably the biggest casino there is.”

In his lawsuit filed last year, Rousso argued that the law is a “protectionist measure” that discriminates against legal, out-of-state businesses, namely Internet gambling companies, by forcing local players to frequent the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos and card rooms, the reports said.

Washington State Assistant Attorney General Bruce Marvin disputed that and said the U.S. Congress gives states authority over their own criminal laws, and that Washington’s law bans online gambling regardless of whether a company operates in or out of state, the reports said.

The 2006 statute was an amendment to the state’s 1973 Gambling Act that banned electronic “receipt or transmission of gambling information” through such means as the radio, telephone and telegraph.

The amendment added “Internet” to those means and also upgraded violation of the law from a misdemeanor to a felony. Washington remains the only state in the U.S. that specifically bans online poker and other forms of online gambling.

Since the statute became effective on June 7, 2006, however, no online gamblers have been prosecuted.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.) =A0=A0=A0