The ceilings just got higher in one of the staple Washington betting operators: cardrooms.
The Washington State Gambling Commission, by a vote of 3 to 2, decided to raise the betting limit in cardrooms from $300 to $400. The $100 increase is the first in Washington since 2009.
Maverick Gaming, the company that owns and runs 23 out of the 38 cardrooms in the state, asked last summer to raise the limit to $500. They said this would help them deal with the rising costs of running their business. It would also help them compete better with tribal casinos, which are allowed to take larger bets.
There was a lot of negotiation and public hearings about this request. In the end, they agreed to raise the limit, but only to $400.
Along with its Washington properties, Maverick owns and operates cardrooms and/or casinos in Colorado and in Northern Nevada.
What is a Cardroom?
Since 1997, Washington State has allowed poker rooms where the house, not the players, bankrolls the games. Under the present rules, each of these places can have up to 15 tables for different games. These games include:
- Blackjack
- Ultimate Texas Hold’em
- Three Card Poker
- Four Card Poker
- Spanish Poker
- Texas Shootout
- Spanish 21
- Pai Gow Poker
The idea behind allowing commercial cardrooms was to help small businesses like restaurants and bars make more money. It was marketed as “social gaming,” and when the law first came out, the maximum bet was $25 per hand.
Since 1997, they’ve only raised this limit three times. The last time was 14 years ago when they increased the max bet to $300.
Tribes Against the Increase
The tribes, represented by the Kalispel Tribe and the Washington Indian Gaming Association (WIGA) at the commission meeting, were against the increase. They said it broke the state law that allowed cardrooms where the house puts up the money for the games. According to them, the “social card games” at cardrooms were allowed only as a “commercial stimulant” to the operations’ primary business of selling food and drinks.
They pointed out that Maverick has grown a lot, including buying up smaller poker rooms. In a previous letter to the commission, WIGA said that the increase further goes against the original intent of the social gaming statute.
“If anything, the smaller ‘mom and pop’ establishments have been squeezed from the market as the remaining operators consolidate, acquire market share from these smaller establishments, and brand themselves as ‘casinos.’ This seems a far cry from the Legislature’s original intent,” read a letter issued by WIGA.
Maverick CEO Says Tribes Still Have Advantage
Eric Persson, the CEO of Maverick, pointed out that the state’s gaming tribes already have an advantage because they can run slot machines and sports betting.
“I have a pretty big investment in the state, have a pretty big investment in cardrooms, and we’re trying to figure out how to make it be vibrant,” Persson told the state Gambling Commission while applying for the betting increase. “We don’t have sports betting. It already hurts our business on the weekends, but what can we do? At the end of the day, all we’re trying to do is compete.”
The tribes didn’t win their argument, but the two commissioners who voted against raising the betting limit did take note of it.
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