First Tribal Sports Betting Bill Filed in Washington State

Washington, positioned in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, has introduced its first sports betting bill.

The bill was sponsored by eight Washington Representatives that want to legalize wagering on sports events in this state…

…and to offer this type of gambling exclusively in tribal casinos.

Sports Betting in the Evergreen State

Except for tribal gaming facilities, according to the Washington Bill named, House Bill 1975, sports gambling would be permitted also in-person and online…

…but it is not specified if the gambling would be possible via mobile devices.

Online wagers would be permitted only if the person is physically present in the tribal venue.

Individuals would be able to bet, of course, on professional sports and athletics events, collegiate sports betting and also on Olympic and international sports competitions. But, the bill doesn’t permit betting on horse racing.

Indian Tribes Only

In the bill is also stated that only federally recognized Indian tribes would be granted permission to operate sportsbooks and they would have to enter a Class III gaming compact in the state to be able to participate.

Since many states have tribal casinos that will potentially be in charge of sportsbooks, casino operator, MGM Resorts International, decided to focus on finding sports betting opportunities in the US Indian tribal gaming market for the MGM-GVC partnership.

Bill 1975 doesn’t say anything about how the process of granting the license would work…

…neither does it mention anything about the fees or taxation rates.

In Washington, according to the law, all types of online gambling are still seen as a Class C felony and each person that doesn’t obey the rules can get up to five years in prison and a fine of $20,000.

Other Tribal Sports Betting Bills

It is definitely not the first US state to introduce a tribal sports betting bill in the past few months. Another was the state of Arizona…

…that introduced its first sports betting bill in January with aims to its neighbors New Mexico.

Also in January, lawmakers from the state of Connecticut submitted the bill that proposed to allow only tribal casinos to operate sportsbooks. But, eight state senators introduced a brand-new bill so it is still a question of when sports wagering will become legal in this southern New England state.

Sports Betting in the USA

Ever since the US Supreme Court lifted the federal ban in May 2018 and overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) that had been active since 1992…

…many US states have introduced its sports betting bills.

For now, only eight states have officially legalized sports betting on their grounds: Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, Mississippi, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico.

Source:

“Tribal sports betting bill filed in Washington State”, igamingbusiness.com, February 12, 2019.