Maverick Gaming LLC’s CEO Eric Persson has sued in federal court to end the tribal monopoly on Washington’s sports betting, claiming he is being unconstitutionally discriminated against and that “There’s room for everybody in this business. We don’t overlap with tribes.”
Persson declared, “Every day we wake up determined to bring sports betting to the mass population of Washington. And what we’re doing right now is just the logical next step towards that process.”
One of Maverick’s attorneys in the federal lawsuit is Ted Olson, who was lead counsel for New Jersey’s successful lawsuit to overturn the old federal ban against sports betting.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. claims Washington state officials granted the state’s gaming tribes a “discriminatory tribal gaming monopoly.”
Persson’s company owns 19 of the state’s licensed card rooms. He was unsuccessful in 2020 in persuading lawmakers to include commercial casinos when they legalized sports betting. The state later approved 15 amended tribal state gaming compacts including sportsbooks.
Maverick was originally headquartered in Nevada, but relocated to Kirkland, Washington.
In a recent interview with Seattle Times, Persson commented “I think there’s a big gap between the judiciary and the legislative system,” adding, “And I think that as that gets clarified and the legislators understand that IGRA is being applied wrongly in the state of Washington, I think they’re going to engage us. And to me, this is just a logical next step.”
Rebecca George, executive director of the Washington Indian Gaming Association, which represents most of the state’s gaming tribes, declared, “Maverick Gaming’s newly announced federal lawsuit is a desperate attempt to overturn federal law, the will of the Washington State legislature, state and federal agency decisions, and the clearly expressed sentiments of the general public in Washington State.” She added, “It would severely undermine the well-regulated and safe system of limited gaming that has been established in Washington State over three decades of carefully negotiated compacts between the State of Washington and Native American tribes.”
