Every morning I check ESPN.com to see what’s new in the world of sports. Today on the homepage I saw this:
I was particularly interested in that bottom line:
Millman: Ideas for betting on the Super Bowl
It got me to thinking: Will the Washington State Gambling Commission go after ESPN?
If the Commission is to be consistent, I don’t know why they wouldn’t. After all, Commission Director Rick Day is on record as saying that linking to gambling websites or talking about them in a favorable way constitutes “aiding and abetting” illegal gambling.
One possible defense is that Washington law does not apply to ESPN because Chris Berman’s employer is located in Bristol, Connecticut. That defense shouldn’t work, however, because ESPN is accessible in Washington state. When the Gambling Commission enlisted authorities in Louisiana to come after me in 2007, it took the position that so long as a website was accessible in a state, the law of that state applied to its operations and management. Not only that, but when a site is accessible in a state it means that management is present in that state. That’s what they said when they had Betcha.com in their crosshairs. Two employees and I were “present” in Louisiana because Betcha was accessible there. We were so “present,” in fact, that Louisiana (and the Gambling Commission?) wanted us held without bail as fugitives from justice. I hadn’t been to Bayou State since 1994. My colleagues had never been there in their lives.
I’d hate to make a wager, but I betcha the Gambling Commission won’t be taking a bite at ESPN for its alleged aiding and abetting a violation of state and federal law. That would be too out in the open, not like when they came after us.
Besides they probably won’t have time. Right now they’re working overtime to get the state legislature to make Betcha illegal once and for all.
If you can’t beat ‘em, just change the rules.

Posted by greenlakenick 










































