Gambling Activities
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Washington State Gambling Commission
P.O. Box 42400
Olympia, WA 98504
360-486-3440
360-486-3629 (fax)
Home Poker Game Hosts and Players
Home poker games are permitted in Washington State as long as professional gambling does not occur. The Washington State criminal code defines professional gambling as occurring when a person pays or accepts a fee to participate in a card game (RCW 9.46.0269). No fees may be charged for arranging, facilitating, organizing, or for operating the card game.
Persons who are found to be engaging in Professional Gambling are subject to criminal prosecution pursuant to the Revised Code of Washington criminal statutes. The following criminal statutes may help you determine if you are operating legally.
RCW 9.46.220, Professional
Gambling First Degree
Any person who operates, manages, or profits from the operation of a premises or location where persons are charged a
fee to participate in card games is conducting First Degree Professional Gambling, a class B felony.
RCW 9.46.221, Professional
Gambling Second Degree
Any person who maintains a “gambling premises,” defined in
RCW 9.46.0249 as “any
building, room, enclosure, vehicle or other place used or intended to be used for professional gambling,” is
conducting Professional Gambling in the Second Degree, a class C felony.
RCW 9.46.222, Professional
Gambling in the Third Degree
Any person who engages in or knowingly causes, aids, abets, or conspires with another to engage in professional
gambling and whose conduct does not constitute first or second degree Professional Gambling is guilty of Professional
Gambling in the Third Degree. Professional Gambling in the Third Degree is a gross misdemeanor.
