On Wednesday, lawmakers in Washington State filed a bill that would expand the availability of legal sports betting to card rooms, marking the third time in three years that the state’s card rooms, led by Maverick Gaming, have tried to legislatively break the existing monopoly that allows for wagering at tribal casinos only.
Washington is so far the only state in the U.S. that has given total exclusivity to its tribes, though it’s possible that California, the biggest tribal gaming state in the country, will eventually find itself in a similar situation. California’s tribes late last year successfully killed a commercial digital sports betting initiative by one of the widest margins in American history.
In Arizona and Connecticut, tribes have agreed to deals through which they gave up at least some of their exclusivity, and in Michigan, tribes in 2019 agreed to be regulated by the state and pay taxes instead of maintaining exclusivity. In Wisconsin, tribes began quietly re-compacting with the state in 2021 to add sports betting, and in New Mexico and Oregon, tribes launched sports betting with no state oversight or new compact. As wagering has been legalized across more than 30 states, each has its own, unique system, and of the 22 states with legal wagering and tribes, no two situations are the same.
Maverick Gaming owns 19 card rooms in Washington State and has aggressively tried to get lawmakers to consider a more “inclusive” gaming law dating to 2020, when the legislature awarded tribes exclusivity over certain forms of gambling. In addition to exploring the legislative route, Maverick Gaming in January 2022 filed a federal lawsuit challenging the monopoly.