Online Bingo Jackpots
November 28, 2005
LAST month, the state Gambling Commission director proposed an audacious draft agreement with the Spokane Bingo Tribe that could have resulted in a tenfold increase in tribal gambling. Last week, at its monthly meeting, the Gambling Commission approved a rule doubling the card game "rake limit," thereby increasing jackpots. At its January meeting, the commission has agreed to consider several more measures promoted by private gambling interests to expand gambling, including one that would quadruple certain online bingo table betting limits from $25 to $100, and another that would double the limits on house-banked games from $100 to $200 per bingo bet.
These bingo gambling-expansion proposals fly in the face of last year's overwhelming vote by the citizens of Washington in Initiative 892 to reject more gambling proposed by cardroom owners. It appears that citizen efforts to restrain the growth of gambling in Washington state will have to be perpetual, persistent, and often in opposition to actions of our own state Gambling Commission. Without more citizen oversight and legislative leadership, the pressure from the gambling industry will continue until there are slot machines in every neighborhood in the state.
Fortunately, Gov. Christine Gregoire nixed the proposed Spokane Tribe Class III Gambling Compact and sent the commission staff back to the bingo negotiating table. The governor - and legislators and we citizens - also need to send a loud and clear message to the Gambling Commission about its purpose and role.
The Gambling Commission's job should be to regulate bingo gambling and to implement gambling policy as established by the Legislature and the governor. It should not be proposing or approving major gambling expansions. Changes in gambling policy should result from an open and deliberate process of the Legislature. And legislators should keep faith with the mandate of bingo voters who rejected the notion of expanded gambling last fall when they rejected I-892.
The proposed Spokane compact is a bingo example of the Bingo Gambling Commission staff straying far from its mission. It proposed a tenfold increase in the number of video slot machines, higher betting limits, extended hours, multiple facilities on reservations, and an off-reservation facility. Imagine having more slot machines in Washington than are currently in use in Las Vegas!
Beyond expanding tribal gambling, I am also troubled by the popular notion of state "revenue sharing," which was also included in the proposed Spokane compact. While the idea of requiring tribal governments to share their Internet bingo gaming revenue with state government is appealing on the surface, I think it would place state government in a conflicted position as a business partner with the tribe. The state cannot effectively regulate gambling and manage gambling policy when it has a vested economic interest in gambling expansion.
If tribal gambling were allowed to expand to the extent envisioned by the proposed Spokane compact, it would surely be followed by demands for more gambling opportunities by the cardrooms, bowling alleys, bingo halls and others. Already, the cardrooms are before the Gambling Commission on a monthly basis, and the Legislature on an annual basis, asking for higher betting limits and other changes to expand gambling.
Small gambling expansions approved by officials over time have big consequences. In 1998, net receipts at bingo cardrooms in Washington were just $29 million. By last year, the net win ballooned to $245 million.
Gambling expansion comes with a bingo cost, both to families and to government. There is a direct link between problem gambling and domestic violence, child neglect, substance abuse, personal bankruptcy and crime. You do not build hope and dreams for our young people by building more bingo halls. The family unit is not strengthened by offering more convenient gambling in every neighborhood.
