Gambling News by House of Odds

The hottest gambling action in Washington would get even hotter under a new
compact proposed between the state and the Spokane Tribe of Indians. Under
the deal, to be announced at a news conference in Seattle today, the tribe
would be the first in the state to legally operate cash-operated,
single-push-button video-gambling machines that have been popular cash cows
elsewhere but have been banned in Washington. For the Spokanes, the compact
would end 15 years of litigation over the tribe's gambling operations, which
have been running without a formal compact. And that would help the tribe
expand to better compete with neighboring tribes. "This is a real good day
for the tribe," said Gerald Nicodemus, secretary of the Spokane tribal
business council. It may benefit other tribes, which could also make a play
for the new machines, potentially triggering an explosion in the video-slot
business statewide. Washington's tribal casinos are generating about $1.2
billion a year, or 65 percent of all annual gambling revenue, using the
older, more cumbersome machines that take paper tickets instead of cash.
That's one reason the proposal has some powerful detractors, such as state
Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Seattle, who chairs the Senate Ways and Means
Committee and sits on the State Gambling Commission that will vote on the
compact. Wednesday she called the proposal "really offensive." "This is way
beyond what the public wants to swallow," Prentice said. "I can't imagine
how we can possibly approve this."