For the Reporter

Sen. Pam Roach on Thursday shared a glimpse of her plan for making Washington the first state to draw a line between “social” and “commercial” fantasy sports.

Roach, R-Sumner, explained the basics of her “50-50” proposal to members of the Washington State Gambling Commission. A public hearing on the plan, which is an updated version of Roach’s Senate Bill 5284, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 20 before the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. The original version of SB 5284 received a hearing before the same committee in January.

The revised version of Roach’s legislation would exempt from state regulation a fantasy sports league that has no more than 50 players and requires a cash-only buy-in of no more than $50, with all players participating in all that season’s games.

“This would separate the social, water-cooler level of fantasy football and the corporate, online fantasy sports that right now are equally illegal under Washington law,” Roach said. “The members of the gambling commission seemed very interested in my proposal, and I encouraged the chairman to join me at next week’s hearing on my bill.”