PrizePicks Washington: A Law That Predates the Question

PrizePicks Washington is easy to misread as another state still arguing over whether pick'em contests count as gambling. Washington isn't arguing. It settled the underlying question in 2006, nine years before DraftKings and FanDuel made daily fantasy a national story, by making it a felony to send or receive gambling information over the internet at all. This page covers that law, the state supreme court case that upheld it, and what a Washington account can actually open on PrizePicks today.

Legal status in Washington

Washington's gambling code doesn't have a fantasy-sports carve-out to argue about, and that's the point. RCW 9.46.240, amended by Substitute Senate Bill 6613 in 2006 (signed by Governor Christine Gregoire on March 28, 2006, effective June 7, 2006), makes it a Class C felony to knowingly transmit or receive gambling information by 'the internet, a telecommunications transmission system, or similar means.' A Washington poker player, Lee Rousso, challenged the law as an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce; the Washington Supreme Court unanimously upheld it in Rousso v. State on September 23, 2010. The Washington State Gambling Commission has since said plainly that fantasy sports contests meet the 1973 Gambling Act's definition of gambling and fall under this same internet-transmission statute — no separate DFS ruling required. In the 2016 legislative session, three competing bills tried to move the line: SB 6333 and HB 1301 would have licensed and legalized DFS as a skill contest, while Rep. Chris Hurst's HB 2370 would have gone further the other way, banning fantasy sports outright and making even advertising it a Class C felony. None of the three passed, which left the pre-existing 2006 statute controlling exactly as before. PrizePicks does not offer paid Player Picks or Team Picks to Washington residents. Culture Picks, the company's non-sports prediction product, is listed as available to Washington players 18 and up, and the free-to-play Streaks contest runs there too.

State gambling authority: Washington State Gambling Commission (WSGC) — enforces RCW Title 9.46 and has publicly stated fantasy sports contests meet the state's gambling and internet-transmission statutes; the Attorney General's Office has no separate DFS opinion because none has been needed.

PrizePicks Washington isn’t a story about a regulator catching up to a fast-moving app. Washington got here first. Nine years before pick’em contests were a national headline, the state had already made it a felony to gamble over the internet at all — no exceptions carved out later for fantasy sports, because none were needed. That single fact explains why “PrizePicks Washington” has a shorter, blunter answer than most state pages on this site.

The Law Came Before the Product

RCW 9.46.240 started as part of Washington’s 1973 Gambling Act, but the version that matters here is the 2006 amendment. Substitute Senate Bill 6613, signed by Governor Christine Gregoire on March 28, 2006 and effective that June 7, added “the internet” and “a telecommunications transmission system” to the list of media covered by the statute. The result: knowingly transmitting or receiving gambling information online became a Class C felony in Washington, the same year most of the country was still treating online poker as an unresolved question rather than a settled crime.

It went to the state supreme court — and held. Lee Rousso, a Washington poker player, sued the state in Rousso v. State, arguing the internet-gambling ban violated the dormant Commerce Clause by reaching outside Washington to burden interstate commerce. The Washington Supreme Court ruled unanimously against him on September 23, 2010. The statute has stood unchallenged since.

Is PrizePicks Legal in Washington?

For Player Picks or Team Picks, no. The Washington State Gambling Commission has stated that fantasy sports contests meet the 1973 Gambling Act’s definition of gambling and fall under the same internet-transmission statute Rousso lost his case over — no separate DFS-specific opinion required, because the existing law already reached it. PrizePicks’ own state-availability listing confirms Washington residents cannot open paid sports pick’em contests.

What 2016 Almost Changed — and Didn’t

Washington did have its own version of the national DFS fight. In the 2016 legislative session, three bills moved at once. SB 6333 and HB 1301 would have defined daily fantasy sports as a game of skill and built a licensing system around it, the path several other states eventually took. Rep. Chris Hurst’s HB 2370 pulled the opposite direction: it would have explicitly banned fantasy sports contests and made even advertising one a Class C felony. None of the three got a floor vote that stuck. The legislature left the 2006 statute exactly where it was, which meant the Gambling Commission’s existing position — DFS is already covered — kept governing by default.

Washington’s DFS timeline, compressed: 2006 — internet-gambling felony statute enacted. 2010 — upheld by the state supreme court in Rousso v. State. 2016 — three competing fantasy-sports bills introduced, none passed. Today — the 2006 law is still the entire answer.

Is PrizePicks Legit in Washington Despite the Block?

Legit as a company, without question — a decade of paying entries nationally and a real New York gaming license elsewhere. PrizePicks isn’t quietly serving Washington players a version of Player Picks it hopes regulators won’t notice; it lists the state as unavailable for those contests, full stop. That’s the same posture the company takes anywhere a state’s law is this unambiguous, and it’s the more conservative of the two options available to it.

What Actually Works on a Washington Account

Culture Picks — PrizePicks’ real-money prediction product covering entertainment and other non-sports outcomes — is listed as open to Washington residents 18 and up. It’s excluded from exactly one state nationwide, Nevada, and Washington isn’t it. Streaks, the free-to-play pick format with no real-money entry, is also available. Neither is the stat-line sports product that brought most “PrizePicks Washington” searches to this page, and no location workaround changes what a Class C felony statute covers. Nothing here is a way to make money.

PrizePicks Washington — Frequently Asked Questions

Is PrizePicks legal in Washington?

Not for paid Player Picks or Team Picks. Washington doesn't need a DFS-specific ruling the way some states do — RCW 9.46.240 already makes transmitting or receiving gambling information over the internet a Class C felony, a law written in 2006 and upheld by the state supreme court in 2010. The Gambling Commission has said fantasy sports contests fall under it. PrizePicks' own state-availability page lists Washington as unable to open paid sports pick'em contests.

Why is Washington stricter than other states on this?

Most states that block DFS did it through a fantasy-sports-specific law or a recent attorney general opinion. Washington's block predates fantasy sports as a business: the internet-gambling felony statute was written in 2006, years before DraftKings or FanDuel existed, aimed at online poker. When pick'em contests became popular a decade later, the Gambling Commission didn't need new legislation — it just applied a law that was already broad enough to cover them.

Is PrizePicks legit in Washington if it can't offer its main product?

As a company, yes — same national operator, same track record, same New York license elsewhere. PrizePicks isn't evading Washington law or operating a gray-market version of Player Picks here; it simply doesn't list the state as eligible for paid sports contests, which is the more cautious choice next to offering a product a felony statute already covers.

What can I actually play on PrizePicks in Washington?

Culture Picks, PrizePicks' real-money prediction product built around entertainment and other non-sports outcomes, is listed as available to Washington residents 18 and up — it's excluded from only one state nationwide, Nevada, and Washington isn't it. Streaks, the free-to-play pick format, is also available. Player Picks and Team Picks, the stat-line sports contests, are not.

Did the 2016 Washington legislature ever legalize daily fantasy sports?

No. Three bills were introduced that session — two, SB 6333 and HB 1301, would have licensed DFS as a skill game; one, HB 2370, would have banned it outright and made advertising it a felony. All three died without a floor vote passing. The practical result was that nothing changed: the 2006 internet-gambling statute stayed exactly as written, and it's still the law a decade later.

Could a Washington resident actually be charged for using PrizePicks?

RCW 9.46.240 is written to cover the person transmitting or receiving gambling information, not only a company operating without a license — that's part of why Washington's law reads harsher than a typical state DFS ban. There's no public record of an individual player being prosecuted over a fantasy-sports app specifically. PrizePicks not offering paid contests to Washington accounts is the reason that theoretical exposure isn't something a Culture Picks or Streaks user needs to weigh.

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