H-1214              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1610

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State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Representative Wang

Read first time 2/1/89 and referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

AN ACT Relating to pseudo-games of skill; adding a new section to chapter 9.46 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature declares certain classes of contests involving the skill of the contestants to be against public policy.  Such contests engage individuals in a pattern of increasing financial commitments through unrealistic implied or express promises of winning or earning significant sums or prizes.  Notwithstanding an element of skill, these contests resemble other gambling activities and pose similar risks to society.  The legislature further finds that such contests conducted through the mails have the most impact in this state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 9.46 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) It is a violation of this chapter for a person to conduct or operate a pseudo-game of skill.

          (2) "Pseudo-game of skill," as used in this section, means a contest conducted through the United States mail that requires players or contestants to give consideration to participate, requires an effort by the player or contestant to respond to questions or puzzles in order to proceed to successive stages of the contest, requires that the player mail a correct response to receive the question or puzzle for the succeeding stage of the contest, and selects a winner or winners through a process of elimination.  "Pseudo-game of skill" does not include an activity in which the person operating or conducting the activity does not:  (a) Set or control the level of skill necessary to win, (b) require any consideration to participate, or (c) share in or retain any of the funds generated from or paid by the players or contestants.

          (3) "Person," as used in this section, means any natural individual, corporation, or other legal entity.

          (4) If the commission seeks and obtains an injunction for a violation of this section, it shall be entitled to recover all of its actual reasonable expenses, including attorneys' fees.