Recently, the Cowlitz tribe opened a state-of-the-art resort casino, near Portland, for a massive investment of over 500 million USD, containing a high number of slot machines, restaurants, and other facilities. However, regardless of all the excitement around this grand-opening, there were those who had nothing but to lose.

Established in 1973 after a number of costly and embarrassing scandals involving games of chance, the Washington State Gambling Commission is the second oldest regulatory agency of its kind in the United States. Despite the generally laid-back reputation of the Evergreen State, gambling is a serious business that brings in more than a billion dollars in annual revenue. Unfortunately, it also draws a criminal element that seeks to profit by skirting the law, and this is where the men and women of the WSGC earn their paychecks.

To give you an idea of the stakes, here are the Washington State gambling net receipts for 2013:

• Tribal Casinos – $2,225,300,000
• State Lottery – $230,200,000
• Card Rooms – $212,800,000
• Punch Boards/Pull Tabs – $65,500,000
• Horse Racing – $28,000,000
• Bingo – $8,200,000
• Raffles/Fundraising Events – $4,900,000

How the Commission Works

The Governor of Washington State, with approval from the Senate, selects five individuals to serve as commissioners for a term of six years. The members of the commission also appoint a director, and this individual selects a staff. There were 146 staff members as of this writing, with 83 also being law enforcement officers.

The agency is not funded by taxes from the citizens of Washington State. Instead, funds are obtained through regulatory fees paid out by the tribal governments and anyone else seeking a license to offer games of chance.

The commission is responsible for regulating and licensing all legal gambling in the state, with the exception of horse racing and the lottery. Due to an agreement with the Native American tribes of Washington State, the commission also assists in the regulation of any gambling that takes place on tribal land.

Working with law enforcement and tribal authorities, the employees of the commission investigate a wide range of gambling-related offenses. These include the following: fraud, money laundering, animal fights, bookmaking, loansharking, Internet gambling, cheating, theft, and embezzlement.

Much of their work revolves around financial audits, as well as on-site and background investigations. Everyone involved in the gaming industry is subject to a thorough background check, and in 2013 the agency investigated 23,300 new applicants and license holders.

Investigators may also be called upon to go undercover, which is especially useful when investigating complaints from the public against casinos and card rooms. About 500 complaints were investigated during the 2013 fiscal year, and these resulted in the discovery of over 840 violations of the law (with 72 criminal cases being sent to state prosecutors).

Gambling Tax

The state of Washington does not collect a gambling tax, but cities, towns, and counties are free to do so. Many take advantage of this opportunity to boost the local economy, and an estimated $29 million was collected in the 2013 fiscal year. Of this number, card games made up the largest source of tax revenue with $21.3 million, followed by punch boards and pull tabs ($7.2 million), and bingo ($267,592).

Business and occupation taxes also exist for establishments offering various forms of gaming. Anyone with a gambling license is required to pay an annual business and operation tax of 1.5%, and those with a gross income greater than $50,000 are subject to an additional 0.13% tax to help raise funds for problem gambling programs. In total, the B&O taxes generated an additional $5.5 million for Washington State in 2013.

Internet Gambling in Washington State

According to Article II Section 24 of the Washington State constitution, all gambling activities are considered illegal unless they’ve been specifically approved. This means online gambling is prohibited in all forms, from running an Internet casino to wagering money on virtual slots. The crime of online gambling was upgraded in 2006 from a misdemeanor to a felony, which means players could face prison time alongside the people who run the establishments.

The stated reason for such tight restrictions involves the safety of potential players. According to the Washington State Gambling Commission website, online games may be dishonest, and proceeds could end up funding criminal activities. The opportunity for credit card fraud is always present, as well as the risk presented to minors and problem gamblers.

In 2010, the Supreme Court heard a case labeled “Rousso vs. State of Washington.” The plaintiff challenged the legality of the state’s Internet gambling laws, but the Supreme Court upheld the legislation by a vote of 9-0.

Card Games in Washington State

Prior to 1997, the only allowable card games in Washington State were the kind that took place between players (such as poker). While a card room could still charge players for renting a seat, they could not offer games that pitted customers against the house.

That all changed in 1997, when the state legislature approved house-banked games such as blackjack. Under the current laws, a card room can operate up to 15 tables, and the maximum wager is limited to $300.

During the gambling boom of the new millennium, a high of 96 card rooms were in operation throughout the state. This number has fallen in recent years, however, and the latest statistics show that 53 card rooms were in operation by April of 2014.

Tribal Gaming

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act went into effect throughout the United States in 1988, and this granted Indian tribes the right to build casinos and offer gaming on their lands. The WSGM works alongside the tribes to regulate gaming and certify employees.

This relationship has largely been a harmonious one, although the dispute over tribal machine gaming was a notable exception. For years, state and tribal officials disagreed over which types of machine games were legal. In 1994, a federal court was asked to render a decision on the matter, and three years later they deemed slot machines to be illegal.

As a compromise, tribal lottery machines were created. They look and play similar to slot machines, but the random number generator is replaced by a predetermined pool of winner or losing tickets. Each of the 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington State were allowed 975 machines, although they have the right to negotiate this number much higher by entering into a compact.

The state has an overall limit on these machines that caps out at 27,300, and most times it operates at just under capacity. No matter what the number, however, all machines are checked in the commission's electronic testing lab to verify a fair experience for players.

All Company and Commission Profiles:

The regulations on US online gambling across the country have been through quite the hustle, with many interpretations on what is allowed and what is not, with states that have seen the opportunities that come along with a legal framework for Internet wagering and others that on account of their beliefs state against it. On that account, Washington online gambling is on the extreme side of restrictive actions taken against it. With a constant attitude against USA online casinos, Washington takes the battle to the next level, being one of the few states that have a clear specification that opposes Internet wagering.

Best Washington Online Casino Sites

Contents

Overview on the Washington State’s Gambling Market

There are three main directions to take into consideration when speaking of betting in the state:

• It takes one of the strongest anti-online gambling stances in the country, making it illegal for online gambling in Washington State, to be organized. Washington online poker has had some attempts at being regulated, but WA is far from becoming one of the legal online gambling sites.
• The biggest off-line option for exerting betting are the tribal land based casinos, with more than 20 tribes running almost 30 casino businesses. The year 1999 has found these casinos on the upturn, after enabling them the use of slot machines, a move that gave them a clear advantage over their rivals: card rooms.
• Early developed card rooms in which were, at first, allowed only non-banked games, but now get to offer poker, as well as blackjack. They have demanded the permit for slots machines being included in their offer, to compete with the tribal casinos, but were thus far denied all opportunities of doing so.

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While further analyzing the current situation, it is easy to observe that while the tribal casinos have the largest spread, with the most options and gather the highest profit, somewhere around 2 billion dollars. But their paid taxes is zero, given the federal law protecting the Native-Americans and allowing them to use the amount that would’ve gone to the state’s income, for investments in the tribe’s needs. This means that the heavy burden of tax collecting falls on the shoulders of the lottery and the commercially owned card rooms. They total an amount of only 200 million dollars. Perhaps, under these conditions, by refusing to legalize online gambling, Washington denies itself an important means of income.

Land-based Casinos

Even before the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act came into effect, there was a lot of discussion on establishing the ground rules for legally wagering. First, the state constitution denied categorically all forms of gambling. Then, one by one, horse races were allowed and then bingo and raffles. When these were deemed unconstitutional, it was stipulated that a Gambling Commission had to be set in place, for it to regulate this particular domain. Thus, in 1971, the first “casino nights” were allowed, as a charitable event. This has been the first step towards gambling expansion, with card rooms following soon and finally the first agreement with an Indian tribe, for the opening of a stateside casino, all the way in 1992. With all of these measures put in motion, we would have expected that Washington state online gambling regulations would be a swift walk in the park, instead of the fierce struggle that this day presents.
But even these tribal casinos have a bit of a battle of their own. Recently, the Cowlitz tribe opened a state-of-the-art resort casino, near Portland, for a massive investment of over 500 million USD, containing a high number of slot machines, restaurants, and other facilities. However, regardless of all the excitement around this grand-opening, there were those who had nothing but to lose. The close-by establishment of the Grand Ronde tribe has blamed a loss of revenue of almost 40%. Taking into account the experience of this particular tribe, it’s hard to believe that many such tribes are going to welcome the US online gambling stage being expanded in this state.

Card Rooms

These establishments, have come into the public’s attention earlier on, in 1974 and represent the main competitor for tribal casinos, especially in the absence of any Washington online casino for real money sites. The state has a large number of poker rooms, more than many other states. But there aren’t any large card rooms. The highest number of poker tables in a single location is of 32. Most are grouped into bunches of 3-5 poker tables, usually hosted by bars.

Washington State Online Gambling

Based on causes that are currently eluding our understanding, the Gambling Commission has an unusually aggressive attitude against online gambling for Washington. This is among the few states that have specifically stated in its regulations a ban on Internet wagering activity. Besides the fact that the laws in the matter stipulate some of the fiercest punishments for illegal activities, the most interesting moment on this regard came in 2006, when lawmakers decided that felony charges can be pursued for those that use the Internet, among other means, to carry out any activity concerning gambling. Just to clarify the example, felony charges, in this case, can go up to 10000 USD fine, along with a maximum of 5 years imprisonment.
This being the case, it’s no wonder that no operator of online sports betting for Washington State wanted to take the chance and risk such penalties as are stated in the law. The same goes for any software provider or operator who wanted to base their business here and start some Washington online casinos.
Luckily for willing players, the changes in US online gambling regulations also affected the interpretations for the state law. After the rebuffing in 2011 of the Wire Act, all the restrictions and the rules mentioned before, only apply to operators and not to the average everyday player.

Legal Attempts

Not to understand from all stated above, that no attempts have been made to legalize some form of virtual betting. Following the trend of a much more relaxed view on online gambling in the US in general, several supporters have tried on different occasions to push a bill. Most debates have been around the legalization of online poker in Washington.
The most intense discussion happened in 2010, around the idea that residents had the right to play Internet poker and were not meant to become subject of a felony by doing this. This has seen the Supreme Court of Washington, which not only shut the idea down but even stated that it was among the state’s prerogatives to elaborate such punishments. The bills that followed didn’t get this much attention, often enough failing to receive even a hearing. What is indeed gratifying is that regardless of the hostility towards such a concept, the supporters of a bill that would legalize online poker aren’t yet giving up.

Other options

Given the ever-changing stance against Washington online casinos and the apparent worsening of conditions, any online gambling US player is advised to constantly be up to date with the latest news on this subject. For the moment, the options of playing in online casinos refer exclusively to those websites that have their business based outside the state, mostly being licensed in different countries, like Curacao, Malta or Canada, to name a few. As is the best example of a renowned website Bovada Casino. Bovada is legal in Washington and is residents’ favourite online casino brand. Seeing how it is not based in the US, it can offer its gaming services to citizens of this specific state, without fear of repercussions both from the site’s point of view, as well as from its players.

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Can I gamble online in WA?

There is no Washington online casino available. Only offshore-based websites, which need carefully reviewing before joining their games. Luckily there are some sites that do just that and playing on their recommendations, means not to worry about verifying licenses, security measures or authenticity.

Is online poker legal in Washington State?

Washington State Slot Machine Payouts

No for the moment. Although online poker in Washington State has been constantly pushed for legalization, it was not a successful endeavor so far. The only remaining option is that of reviewed and verified websites from other jurisdictions.

What is the minimum legal gambling age in Washington?

The minimum classical gambling age applies to online gambling in Washington State, as well. Thus, although it’s been stated at 18, the recommendations are to align with the general US online gambling age of 21.

How can you withdraw your winnings in Washington?

Given the restrictions of Washington online gambling, the rules that apply when withdrawing money are those set by the websites you play at. Check out the terms and conditions stated on the site. Any online casino accepting Washington players is going to demand a means of payment that includes extra verification, such as wire transfer. They need more days to be accomplished but are the safest way.

Washington State Slot Machine Regulations

How about future prospects on legislative relaxation on the online gambling domain?

Online gambling Washington State law has had some bills being pushed for legalizing poker, without any real success. We can, therefore, assess that no online casino in Washington is to be seen anytime soon.

Additional Sources:

https://www.wsgc.wa.gov/news/gambling-legislation-2019
http://mrsc.org/Home/Explore-Topics/Public-Safety/Licensing-and-Regulation/Gambling-in-Washington-State.aspx
https://www.jobmonkey.com/casino/washington/