On the first day that legal sports betting launches in most states, it’s typically off to the races for a slew of sportsbook operators keen on attracting as many customers as possible, as soon as possible.
That’s exactly what happened on Sept. 9, 2021, in Arizona. But that’s not what happened in Washington state, where sports betting went live on the very same day.
Unlike Arizona, which features a dynamic milieu of tribal and commercial sports betting operators, Washington state’s market is the exclusive dominion of tribal casinos. And while Arizonans can wager by phone from anywhere within the state’s boundaries, Washingtonians who want to bet from their phones are restricted to visiting Snoqualmie Casino, located about 30 miles east of Seattle, to place a mobile wager that can only be made within the confines of the gaming property.
Snoqualmie Casino opened its sportsbook almost exactly a year ago with a ceremonial first bet from NBA legend Shawn Kemp, right in time for opening weekend of the NFL regular season. Getting a sports betting operation up and running in time to take advantage of the busiest wagering sport in the U.S. is usually high priority for sportsbooks, and the Snoqualmie Tribe answered the bell.
But it would be nearly three months before another tribal sportsbook would take its first wager, a telltale sign that when it comes to sports betting, Washington state is not like the others.
“Washington has been a very conservative state when it comes to gambling,” said former Washington State Gambling Commission Chair Chris Stearns, a member of Navajo Nation. “I think because sportsbooks are an incredibly new form of gaming, not just here in Washington but everywhere else in the U.S., getting it right is really important.
“The basic thing is that sports betting is still under development, and secondly, tribes have totally different approaches to how they handle it. It’s an amenity that’s added on to what tribes already offer. So each tribe has to figure out, ‘Where does this fit in our strategy? How does this help us develop our customer base?’ Those things can get figured out differently by every tribe. I’m sure some people wanted a giant sportsbook on Day One of NFL season, but that just doesn’t make sense to unfold it that way.”
With the 2022 NFL season now getting underway, 12 tribal sportsbooks have opened in Washington state, a number that’s expected to roughly double within the next year. And, so far, only the Snoqualmies are offering onsite mobile betting.
“Our sign-ups have been going great, and I think there’s been a lift right before football season as well,” Snoqualmie Casino CEO Stanford Le told Sports Handle. “The nice part about mobile wagering is they can do in-game in real time. They don’t have to go to a kiosk or desk. The availability of the mobile wagering that we have on property, you don’t actually have to be at the sportsbook, so you see some of the gamers on the slot machines placing bets.”
As for how the casino’s first full year of offering sports betting has gone overall, Le said, “It’s been exceptional. Obviously, the guests who come love it. There was one surprise: After football season, we expected a sharp decline in business volume, but we found that something as obscure as cricket, people love. Cricket, baseball, basketball — they’ve all done pretty well.”
Statewide mobile still a longshot
To date, efforts to implement statewide mobile sports betting in Washington have made little progress. But assuming the proper framework is put in place, the Snoqualmies’ experience with onsite mobile makes it seem like it wouldn’t be especially difficult from a technical standpoint.
“Obviously, we have the foundation,” said Le. “It’s geofenced, so if it were to go offsite someday, it’s just a matter of changing the geofence.”
But technology is far from the only consideration in Washington state, where tribes have negotiated an agreement that requires no tax payments from them. The tribes have long had tremendous sway with the state legislature, and their polling indicates that Washingtonians aren’t especially enamored of expanding the availability of sports betting and other forms of gaming.
“Elected leaders, as well as the people of Washington, have decisively rejected the massive expansion of full-blown mobile throughout the state,” said Rebecca George, executive director of the Washington Indian Gaming Association. “Polling that we’ve conducted continually shows … voters here in Washington don’t want gambling in their communities and anywhere and everywhere available on their phones.
“People like to be able to access gambling and the entertainment and restaurants that tribal properties offer. Any kind of expansion beyond that is not of interest to the voters of Washington.”
But Rep. Amy Walen, a Democratic legislator who unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation that would have legalized sports betting and other forms of gaming at commercial card rooms, isn’t so sure. She told Sports Handle that, so far, the feedback she’s received on sports betting from her constituents is that “they would like more access — apps,” adding, “There’s a concept out there that you can do other things in other states using your phone that you can’t do [in Washington].”
That’s true, of course. But, again, capability doesn’t always match a given jurisdiction’s political or legislative reality. When PASPA was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018, Stearns recalled, “There was already an ongoing discussion of where tribes would fit in, and in some states, tribes had bargained for exclusivity. Europeans wanted to enter the market, but it was not going to be, in any sense, a turnkey operation. You just can’t undo tribal-state compacts.”
Enter Maverick Gaming, which is seeking to do just that in federal court. It has retained the very attorney, former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, who successfully represented the state of New Jersey in its quest to expand legal sports betting beyond Nevada.
‘I just don’t think prohibition works’
Rep. Walen works in the accounting department of a car dealership her family co-owns on North Seattle’s Aurora Avenue, a strip of road that’s rife with prostitution and open-air drug dealing. There are also a fair share of card rooms in the area, which some might brand as part and parcel to the pervasive sleaze.
But not Walen.
“This is a distressed neighborhood. It needs services, and a card room provides a service here,” she said. “I have a special place in my heart for them because they are a center of community in my home and in my business. You see a lot of people that are not going to be able to make it to a big, tribal casino. They’re just going to their local for a hot meal and some companionship. I don’t think they’re a threat to the big guys at all.”
Walen intends to reintroduce legislation that would expand sports betting and other forms of gaming to existing card rooms, but she concedes that, in all likelihood, her efforts will again be futile.
“I don’t think it’s viewed positively by the members of my caucus,” she said. “I don’t think the tribes will allow legislation to pass that allows it in card rooms or smaller places. I don’t know if their worry is the thin edge of the wedge or what. The bill that I proposed was just existing card rooms to be grandfathered in.
“I just think that we are an adult society and can make decisions for ourselves. I just don’t think prohibition works.”
About half of Washington’s 44 card rooms — many of them located in working-class suburbs — are owned by Maverick Gaming, which, unlike the tribes, has to pay taxes on its revenue. Maverick’s CEO, Eric Persson, is a western Washington native and a member of the rural Shoalwater Bay Tribe, which plans to open a sportsbook but has yet to do so.
“It’s fantastic the tribes have sports betting. They should,” said Persson. “But in our case, we have critical jobs in our cities where we operate, and we have needs, just as they have needs.”
Lawsuit a threat to tribal sovereignty?
Like Walen, Persson and Maverick have unsuccessfully pushed for expanded gaming at card rooms during the last several legislative sessions, which led Maverick to file a federal lawsuit in January. It alleges that Washington state has been improperly applying the 1988 Indian Gaming and Regulatory Act (IGRA) to give tribes an unfair monopoly over sports betting and other types of wagering.
“IGRA was designed to make sure the sovereign nations were able to have the same commercial interests and benefits as states,” Persson said. “Instead, IGRA has been applied to create a tribal monopoly when it comes to sports betting.”
Providing an update on where the suit stands now, Persson said, “We’re in the 9th Circuit with Ted Olson and Gibson Dunn (Olson’s law firm). Ted is the reason sports betting is legal in the U.S. Regardless of who wins, it will be appealed, and all of us believe it will get to the Supreme Court. This is a marathon for us. It’ll take three to four years, but we’ll prevail.”
Should that come to pass, George said, “The implications would be nationwide. Their lawsuit is a direct attack on tribal sovereignty. It would undo decades-long policy, and I think it’s important to note this isn’t about sports betting. As we knew going in, it’s not a huge revenue generator. We saw their intention the first year when they introduced a Nevada-style, massive expansion of gambling here.
“I absolutely believe that Maverick is trying to come into Washington and uproot an entire system where gaming dollars are beneficial to the state of Washington.”
In a notable legal maneuver, Persson’s own Shoalwater Bay Tribe recently filed to have Maverick’s lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that the tribes, while not named as defendants, are the true target of the suit and cannot be sued due to sovereign immunity.
For his part, Person said he anticipated one of the tribes would attempt to block the lawsuit, and he dismissed the Shoalwater filing as “theater optics.”
When asked to reflect on the first anniversary of sports betting in Washington state, he added, “All commercial businesses in the state of Washington have been excluded from sports betting, and that’s not right.”
