“All we want is a level playing field.”
I always like working with Washington State card clubs, gaming tribes and charities because I can make one of the strongest arguments a gaming operator has on their behalf: Government is giving an unfair advantage to their direct competitors. I helped a charity, for example, that got in trouble trying to compete with tribal bingo when they paid out prizes which were too large under the state’s charity bingo law.
When I conducted a seminar for the Washington State Gambling Commission, I warned them they would hear the level playing field argument from every operator, and that there was nothing they could do about it. It is impossible to make everyone completely equal, starting with location and the forms of gambling which are allowed.
The stakes just got raised again. The State Legislature authorized, and Governor Jay Inslee approved, amending 15 tribal-state compacts to allow those tribes to have sports betting.