New Washington Sports Bills Arrived to Expand Betting Outside of Tribal Casinos

Peter LewisPeter Lewis | February 7, 2023
New Washington Sports Bills Arrived to Expand Betting Outside of Casinos

There could be some major changes on the way when it comes to Washington sports betting and people couldn’t be more excited about it. As things stand, in-person legal sports betting is only allowed on authorized tribal lands, which has been the case since things were launched a few years back. That could change in the future, though, as new Washington sports bills arrived to expand betting outside of Tribal casinos.

We don’t have to tell you how massive this would be. There are only a handful of authorized sports betting spots in the Seattle area. With Seattle being the biggest city in the state, you already know people follow the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Mariners, Seattle Storm, Seattle Sounders and Seattle Kraken closely. Soon enough, a new NBA team could be making its way to the Emerald City as well. That’s why more betting options would be huge.

“Each sports wagering licensee may provide no more than one branded sports wagering website, which may have an accompanying mobile application bearing the same brand as the website for an online sports pool,” the legislation reads in the new sports betting bill. “Any sports wagering website and mobile application must only allow wagering at that cardroom or racetrack facility.”

With these new bills, there’s a long road ahead before anything changes in Washington, but this sure has provided promise for the future. On one side of things, casino owners and card room owners are excited about the potential of sports betting kiosks making their way to those locations. However, tribal casino owners are completely against it, as they don’t want to see any kind of expansion.

Local casino owners want to see the bill passed as soon as possible

As you might have been able to guess, local casino owners want to see the bill passed as soon as possible, as it would be massive for their businesses. From the start, Maverick Gaming Casino CEO Eric Persson has been pushing for expanded sports betting. He’s also dealt with the pushback that has come from the tribal leaders, but that doesn’t matter to him. Persson will keep on battling for what he thinks is right.

“I know that our perspective on sports betting is at odds with those who prefer a monopoly for Tribal casinos, but I respect their right to advocate for their members,” Persson said in a press release regarding the bills. “Maverick Gaming will one day offer sports betting at its properties in our state, either following a ruling by the United States Supreme Court or an inclusive policy discussion by the state legislature that is founded in facts.”

As you can see from that quote from Persson, this is a top that he’s quite passionate about and he wants to do everything in his power to make something go down. While he has plenty of people in his corner, there’s also a lot of opposition. The tribal leaders have a hold on sports betting for the state. Right now, one of the top betting locations is the Emerald Queen Hotel and Casino, which is located in Tacoma.

Right now, people are consistently heading to Tacoma, about 50 minutes south of Seattle, to get in their bets. People have been checking the NFL betting odds during the postseason and that trend is going to continue this week with all kinds of Super Bowl betting options on the table ahead of Sunday’s game between the Eagles and Chiefs. Once House Bill 1630 and Senate Bill 5587 get a closer look, it will completely change the complexion of sports betting for Washingtonians.

Football betting was strong in Washington for the 2022 season

Despite things not coming to a close just yet, numbers have shown that football betting was strong in Washington for the 2022 season. While the NFL betting posted great results, you must remember that college football wagers will always be strong as well. Both the Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars are Pac-12 squads who have a large following all over the state.

For the Huskies, they really impressed this past season under new head coach Kalen DeBoer and big things are expected from the team next fall with star quarterback Michael Penix Jr. returning for one more season. With Penix returning to Seattle for his final season of eligibility and delaying the NFL, a lot of UW fans are not only dreaming of the Huskies winning the Pac-12, but they also are thinking about a potential trip to the College Football Playoff. That’d be amazing to see for everyone.

Meanwhile for the WSU Cougars, head coach Jake Dickert is excited about Cameron Ward returning for another season too, as the star quarterback had a great first season in Pullman. What’s big for WSU is they brought in a lot of strong talent from the transfer portal, which has people excited about betting on them as well. It’s up in the air if these new bills will be finalized or not, but it could be major for sports fans out there. It’d open a lot more betting doors, which people want to see.

Peter Lewis

Peter Lewis Jr. comes from Mississippi where he and his family spend their days discussing college football and basketball. He's written sports journalism for years after studying journalism at a local university.