http://www.tribnet.com/news/local/story/4737213p-4684883c.html
KENNETH P. VOGEL; The News Tribune
The Washington State Gambling Commission voted Thursday to double the maximum bet at minicasinos to $200.
The move was applauded by minicasinos owners, who had sought the change, but it rankled some powerful state lawmakers and might have touched off a turf war between the commission and the Legislature.
"They're usurping the Legislature's authority," said state Sen. Jim Honeyford (R-Sunnyside), chairman of the Senate Commerce & Trade Committee.
He said he'll likely revive dormant legislation to strip the Gambling Commission's power to boost bets and give it to the Legislature as a result of the commission's 4-1 vote Thursday.
For now, Vito Chiechi, a lobbyist for the Olympia-based Recreational Gaming Association, said the increase, which is set to go into effect July 1, "is a good win."
Chiechi's group, which represents non-tribal gambling businesses, petitioned the commission last July to boost the maximum wagers for hands of blackjack and other card games to $300. They said it would help the state's more than 80 house-banked card rooms compete with tribal casinos, which have a $500 per-bet limit and have seen their profits soar in recent years.
Though the boost approved Thursday was less than what Chiechi's group had originally sought, he said in a telephone interview after the vote that "it will help some of the clubs that are struggling a little bit."
It also will hurt families around the state, warned gambling opponents.
"This large-stakes gambling proposal is intended to further prey upon compulsive and problem gamblers," King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, chairman of Citizens Against Gambling Expansion, wrote in a November letter to the commission.
But Chiechi predicted that only high rollers would be affected by the change, asserting most gamblers don't come anywhere the $100 maximum.
"The little guy is not going to go in and bet $200 - they're going to bet $5 or $7," Chiechi said. The higher limit also won't attract more gamblers or prompt more applications to the gambling commission for licenses to open new minicasinos, Chiechi predicted.
What it will do, said Tim Iszley, who owns Silver Dollar Casinos in Tacoma and elsewhere, is help minicasinos owners struggling to pay overhead and employees' salaries and benefits.
"Really all this does is help us catch up to the cost of inflation," Iszley said.
The bet limits had been set at $100 since soon after the state allowed non-tribal businesses to offer house-banked card games in 1997.
Since then, profits from tribal gambling have eclipsed those of non-tribal gambling. In 2002, tribal gaming operations brought in $700 million in revenue, compared to $440 million by nontribal gaming operators, including those running house-banked card rooms, punch boards and pull tabs and bingo games, according to the Gambling Commission.
Iszley predicted that the higher bet limits won't do much to reduce the advantage held by tribal casinos, like the two in Tacoma owned by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.
Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-Seattle) who sponsored the bill that stalled in Honeyford's committee, said the tribal casinos aren't the cause of the minicasinos' problems.
"Their real competition is each other," said Prentice. A former nonvoting member of the gambling commission, Prentice last year sponsored a bill to phase out nontribal minicasinos entirely. "Their problem is that there are too many of them," she said.
The Washington Indian Gaming Association, which has been keeping an eye on issue, did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment on the vote.
Nor did officials from the Gambling Commission. The panel's vice chairman, Alan Parker of Olympia, and many observers had said they expected to table the issue for a third consecutive meeting.
Instead, after some parliamentary wrangling, the commission voted to allow minicasinos to offer $200 bets at one out of every five tables.
Iszley, whose Silver Dollar Tacoma will offer $200 bets at three of its 15 tables, said he expected most of the eligible minicasinos in the state to accept the new maximum bet at a minimum of one table, despite the risk of larger payouts.
"The house is going to have a bigger swing. They're going to have to be better at what they do," Iszley said.
[This message was edited by Dante on February 13, 2004 at 09:09 AM.]
KENNETH P. VOGEL; The News Tribune
The Washington State Gambling Commission voted Thursday to double the maximum bet at minicasinos to $200.
The move was applauded by minicasinos owners, who had sought the change, but it rankled some powerful state lawmakers and might have touched off a turf war between the commission and the Legislature.
"They're usurping the Legislature's authority," said state Sen. Jim Honeyford (R-Sunnyside), chairman of the Senate Commerce & Trade Committee.
He said he'll likely revive dormant legislation to strip the Gambling Commission's power to boost bets and give it to the Legislature as a result of the commission's 4-1 vote Thursday.
For now, Vito Chiechi, a lobbyist for the Olympia-based Recreational Gaming Association, said the increase, which is set to go into effect July 1, "is a good win."
Chiechi's group, which represents non-tribal gambling businesses, petitioned the commission last July to boost the maximum wagers for hands of blackjack and other card games to $300. They said it would help the state's more than 80 house-banked card rooms compete with tribal casinos, which have a $500 per-bet limit and have seen their profits soar in recent years.
Though the boost approved Thursday was less than what Chiechi's group had originally sought, he said in a telephone interview after the vote that "it will help some of the clubs that are struggling a little bit."
It also will hurt families around the state, warned gambling opponents.
"This large-stakes gambling proposal is intended to further prey upon compulsive and problem gamblers," King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, chairman of Citizens Against Gambling Expansion, wrote in a November letter to the commission.
But Chiechi predicted that only high rollers would be affected by the change, asserting most gamblers don't come anywhere the $100 maximum.
"The little guy is not going to go in and bet $200 - they're going to bet $5 or $7," Chiechi said. The higher limit also won't attract more gamblers or prompt more applications to the gambling commission for licenses to open new minicasinos, Chiechi predicted.
What it will do, said Tim Iszley, who owns Silver Dollar Casinos in Tacoma and elsewhere, is help minicasinos owners struggling to pay overhead and employees' salaries and benefits.
"Really all this does is help us catch up to the cost of inflation," Iszley said.
The bet limits had been set at $100 since soon after the state allowed non-tribal businesses to offer house-banked card games in 1997.
Since then, profits from tribal gambling have eclipsed those of non-tribal gambling. In 2002, tribal gaming operations brought in $700 million in revenue, compared to $440 million by nontribal gaming operators, including those running house-banked card rooms, punch boards and pull tabs and bingo games, according to the Gambling Commission.
Iszley predicted that the higher bet limits won't do much to reduce the advantage held by tribal casinos, like the two in Tacoma owned by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.
Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-Seattle) who sponsored the bill that stalled in Honeyford's committee, said the tribal casinos aren't the cause of the minicasinos' problems.
"Their real competition is each other," said Prentice. A former nonvoting member of the gambling commission, Prentice last year sponsored a bill to phase out nontribal minicasinos entirely. "Their problem is that there are too many of them," she said.
The Washington Indian Gaming Association, which has been keeping an eye on issue, did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment on the vote.
Nor did officials from the Gambling Commission. The panel's vice chairman, Alan Parker of Olympia, and many observers had said they expected to table the issue for a third consecutive meeting.
Instead, after some parliamentary wrangling, the commission voted to allow minicasinos to offer $200 bets at one out of every five tables.
Iszley, whose Silver Dollar Tacoma will offer $200 bets at three of its 15 tables, said he expected most of the eligible minicasinos in the state to accept the new maximum bet at a minimum of one table, despite the risk of larger payouts.
"The house is going to have a bigger swing. They're going to have to be better at what they do," Iszley said.
[This message was edited by Dante on February 13, 2004 at 09:09 AM.]
