Washington is moving forward with its push to sports betting, granting tribes exclusive rights to offer bets within the premises of their tribal casinos, despite strong resistance from the state’s card rooms.
The Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce approved ESHB 2638, which means the bill will be moved forward to the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee for further deliberation. Previously, the bill had been approved in House by a landslide, 83 to 14.
The parallel bill SB 6394 was also voted out of the committee, the Senate decided to postpone a full vote to give way to the House on sports betting. If the bill passes both chambers, Gov. Jay Inslee will have the final authority on its approval.
Washington follows the lead of North Carolina passing a sports betting bill limiting betting operations to just the tribes.
However, while North Carolina’s sports betting bill allowed just two casinos in-state to provide sports bets, Washington’s regulations could allow any of the 29 tribal gambling facilities in the state to offer sports bets, including major operations such as Tulalip Resort Casino in Marysville and Muckleshoot Casino Resort in Auburn. Tribes with compacts with Washington State will be allowed to re-negotiate the terms after the bill’s passage.
ESHB 2368’s limiting of the sports betting industry to tribes has garnered resistance, most notably from the state’s 44 licensed card rooms.
Maverick Gaming LLC, a Nevada-based operation who has made serious investments in Washington card rooms in the last year, contended that the bill’s exclusion of card rooms in sports betting constituted an unfair limitation on the industry.
According to Vicki Christopherson, a lobbyist for the firm, the bill attempts to shut out public discourse and enforces a monopoly on sports betting unilaterally.
Lead sponsor of ESHB 2368 Rep. Strom Peterson argued that limiting sports betting to tribes is a reasonable compromise for those who oppose betting on social or moral grounds, and assure them that the state will have control of the size of the industry upon rollout.
Washington’s sports betting bill runs counter to prevailing trends across the U.S. Pennsylvania and New Jersey, for instance, allowed mobile sports betting, which now currently accounts for almost 90% of total revenue.
ESHB 2368 has until March 12 to be approved by the committee; if passed, Gov. Inslee will have five days to decide on its ultimate fate.
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