The Washington State Gambling Commission (WSGC) is poised to ask the legislature to forgive it the $6 million it used for startup costs associated with sports betting earlier this year.
The money was also supposed to be used to go after illegal sports betting operators. As with many things this year, those plans were hijacked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
WSGC Chief Financial Officer Chris Stanley commented: “We’re asking them to strike the transfer out of our account and forgive the loan.” He added, “In part, the pandemic has slowed the work. Working from home can be efficient, but what we’re seeing, a lot of folks, especially parents are struggling with time management… and that’s creating real issues in getting work done quickly. What we need is more time from the legislature to implement the sports betting system … at which point we can start collecting licensing fees.”
Stanley added, “We are asking for forgiveness. If we do not use all of the funds, we will ask if we can use whatever is left over for investigations.”
Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill into law in March. It only allows gaming tribes to offer sports betting. Anyone else offering it invites a felony prosecution.
