So far, the Washington State Gambling Commission (WSGC) has signed sports betting agreements with 15 gaming tribes, 11 of them in the last few weeks.
The most recent signatories include the Colville, Cowlitz, Jamestown S’Klallam, Lummi, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, Shoalwater Bay, Spokane, Squaxin Island, Stillaguamish, and Swinomish Tribes. They joined the Tulalip, Suquamish, Kalispel and Snoqualmie tribes.
The Washington Indian Gaming Association released a statement by Rebecca George, executive director, commenting on the progress: “All tribal gaming is carefully regulated through compacts negotiated by each sovereign Tribe with the Washington State Gambling Commission. Sports betting is no exception.”
George added, “The Gambling Commission has now reached tentative compact agreements with 15 tribes, and today’s hearing is the next step in finalizing those agreements so sports betting can commence at tribal casinos in a few months.” She concluded, “These new compacts will boost our state economy and fund important services for some of the poorest and historically most underserved communities in Washington. These agreements stand as a testament to the strong and enduring partnership tribes in Washington have built with the state over the last three decades to provide safe, limited and regulated gaming options at tribal casinos.”
Meantime, lawmakers are having heated discussions over the one element of sports betting that the tribes are ambivalent about, if not outright hostile to: mobile sports betting.
The current understanding of the law the legislature passed is that it confines online sports betting to the brick and mortar parts of Indian casinos with boundaries to be set by geofencing that allows mobile apps to work only within specified boundaries.
The virtual discussion took place in the joint hearing of the Senate’s Labor, Commerce & Tribal Affairs and Commerce & Gaming committees where some lawmakers alleged that the mobile wagering boundaries extend beyond casino floors and are more extensive than most understood when they were voting on the measure.
Senator Mark Schoesler declared, “As I recall the legislation from a year ago, we all knew that it would legalize sports books within a gaming facility.” He added, “This expansion of mobile within premises and geofence seems to be an expansion or change from the legislation.”
Senator Curtis King agreed, “The implication was that this would only be done in the casino. And that was the way I interpreted it. But now, with this expansion — to me this is a huge expansion.”
A representative of the Washington State Gambling Commission, tribal liaison Julie Lies, said the commission used the definition from Black’s law dictionary in what constituted “premises.” It included the space within surrounding walls as improved exterior spaces such as parking lots, she said.
It doesn’t include such things as convenience stores operating on the casino premises or adjacent golf courses.
Lies explained, “We did spend a lot of time looking at that language. It needs to be connecting to that gaming facility … so if the casino is attached to the parking lot but then there was this other building on the other side of the parking lot, the parking lot is adjacent and adjoining, not the other buildings.”
Washington is one of three states that gives its tribes a monopoly on sports betting, something that is being fought vociferously by the largest owner of commercial casinos in the state, Maverick Gaming.
Senator King, who supports Maverick in seeking to widen who can offer sports betting, said during the hearing, “When you looked at nontribal gaming the discussion was all, ‘Oh, this would be a great big expansion if we do this. There’s no control over the youth using this.’ ” He added, “All of these things. And the implication was this could only be done safely in the casino. But now, to me, this is … a huge expansion of gambling but only on tribal lands.”
Commission Chairman Bud Sizemore disagreed and told lawmakers, “I don’t believe the gambling commission has expanded gambling or the footprint at all, other than trying to accomplish our responsibilities to really wrap up that definition and make it feasible.”
The tribes hope to be able to offer sportsbooks by September when the NFL season begins.
The agreements the tribes have reached with the commission will be reviewed by public hearing next month, after which it will vote and submit them to Governor Jay Inslee for approval and then forwarded to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for its stamp of approval.
