Online Casinos in Washington

1. May 22, 2026

   Ninth Circuit lets Nevada and Washington gambling cases against Kalshi and Polymarket proceed

   A Ninth Circuit panel on May 22 denied bids by Kalshi and Polymarket to halt state gambling cases against them in Nevada and Washington. Judges Ryan Nelson, Bridget Bade, and Kenneth Lee turned away three requests for stays and sent the suits back to state court.

   The orders said federal commodities oversight does not by itself give Kalshi and Polymarket a way out of state enforcement. Nevada accuses both platforms of running sports wagers without a gaming license. Washington's case asks whether Kalshi's event contracts amount to illegal gambling.

   The ruling splits with the Third Circuit, which sided with Kalshi against New Jersey, and tightens state-court pressure on prediction markets.

Real-money online casinos

Not legal, Class C felony under RCW 9.46.240

Online sports betting

Tribal land only, no statewide mobile

Online poker

Not legal, no licensed sites

iLottery / online lottery sales

Not offered, in-person retailers only

Daily fantasy sports

Not legal, WSGC has banned paid DFS

Sweepstakes / social casinos

Illegal after Kater v. Churchill Downs (2018)

Tribal casinos

29 casinos run by 22 of 29 federally recognized tribes

Commercial card rooms

About 38 statewide, mostly Seattle-Tacoma area

Minimum gambling age

18 statutory, 21 at tribal venues serving alcohol

Regulator

Washington State Gambling Commission (WSGC)

Penalty class

Class C felonyRCW 9.46.240, the only US state statute that makes a player’s online wager a felony rather than a misdemeanor or no specific offense.

Max prison

5 yearsPer offense, set by RCW 9A.20.021. No other state’s gambling code authorizes more than 12 months for the player side of an unlicensed online bet.

Max fine

$10,000Per offense. The fine stacks per separate transaction, which means the theoretical exposure on a multi-session bettor is unbounded.

Statute year

2006Senator Margarita Prentice’s SB 6613 added the internet to the transmission list and lifted the offense from a gross misdemeanor to a Class C felony. Senate vote was 44-0.

The classification gap matters more than the maximum penalty does. A felony carries collateral consequences a misdemeanor never reaches: loss of firearm rights, immigration consequences for non-citizens, professional license effects, and a permanent criminal record. King County prosecutors have not pursued recreational bettors at scale, but the statute itself is the deterrent. No other state in the union built that lever into its gambling code.

1. Mar 28, 2006

   SB 6613 makes internet gambling a Class C felony

   Governor Christine Gregoire signs Senator Margarita Prentice's bill amending RCW 9.46.240 to add the internet and telecommunications systems. The Senate vote was 44-0. The law takes effect June 7, 2006.

2. Mar 29, 2018

   Ninth Circuit decides Kater v. Churchill Downs

   Judge Milan D. Smith holds that the virtual chips in Big Fish Casino are a "thing of value" and that the app is illegal gambling under Washington law. The ruling becomes the legal foundation for the state's ban on dual-currency sweepstakes casinos.

3. Mar 25, 2020

   Governor Inslee signs HB 2638

   Sports betting becomes legal only at tribal casinos through amendments to Class III compacts. Commercial card rooms are excluded. The bill carries an emergency clause that blocks a referendum challenge.

4. Sep 9, 2021

   First legal sports bet at Snoqualmie Casino

   On opening day of the NFL season, former SuperSonics All-Star Shawn Kemp places the first wager. Mobile sports betting launches later that year but only works inside the casino's geofence.

5. Jun 11, 2024

   High 5 Games social casino ruled illegal

   Federal judge Tiffany Cartwright extends the Kater precedent in Larsen v. PTT, LLC, holding that High 5 Casino and High 5 Vegas violate Washington's Gambling Act and Consumer Protection Act.

6. Dec 13, 2024

   Ninth Circuit dismisses Maverick Gaming's challenge

   The court affirms dismissal of Maverick Gaming v. United States, citing the Shoalwater Bay Tribe's sovereign immunity as a required party that cannot be joined. The Supreme Court denies cert in October 2025.

7. Feb 3, 2026

   AG sues Playtika and Aristocrat over $225M in losses

   Attorney General Nick Brown files in King County Superior Court against 16 casino apps including Slotomania, World Series of Poker, Big Fish Casino, and Jackpot Magic Slots, alleging more than $225 million in losses from Washington residents since September 2020.

The Edelson firm, which represented the Larsen plaintiffs, called the February 2025 verdict the first jury award in US history against an illegal online casino operator. The same precedent chain anchors the Attorney General’s 2026 complaint, which cites Kater and Larsen as controlling Washington authority and asks for disgorgement plus Consumer Protection Act civil penalties on top of the $225 million in alleged resident losses.

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The complaint frames each app as illegal gambling under the Recovery of Money Lost at Gambling Act and as an unfair or deceptive practice under the Consumer Protection Act. The same Kater-Larsen precedent chain that nailed Churchill Downs and High 5 supports the theory. None of these brands have answered the complaint as of the filing date. Major sweepstakes brands such as McLuck, Pulsz, Chumba, and Stake.us block Washington IP addresses outright and do not appear in the AG’s 16-app roster.

The on-property mobile model uses GeoComply and similar location services to fence the app to the casino lot. Open the same app on the drive home and it refuses the wager. The Department of Interior approved the first nine compact amendments in September 2021 covering the Puyallup, Tulalip, Snoqualmie, Spokane, Cowlitz, Squaxin, Suquamish, Stillaguamish, and Lummi tribes; more tribes have signed amendments since, and the retail roster keeps growing as new properties pick a brand.

• Tribal Casinos

  Twenty-two of Washington's 29 federally recognized tribes operate about 29 casinos with slots on the Tribal Lottery System, blackjack, baccarat, craps, roulette, and poker. The Washington State Gambling Commission negotiates the Class III compacts. The minimum age is 18 at venues that do not serve alcohol on the gaming floor and 21 at the rest.

• Tribal Sports Betting

  Authorized by HB 2638 in 2020 and live since Snoqualmie Casino opened its book on September 9, 2021. Bets are accepted only on tribal property. A handful of tribes offer a mobile app, but the geofence ends at the casino parking lot, so wagers placed off-reservation remain a felony under RCW 9.46.240.

• Commercial Card Rooms

  About 38 licensed house-banked card rooms operate statewide, mostly clustered around Seattle-Tacoma, with up to 15 tables each. They offer blackjack, pai gow, Caribbean stud, and other house-banked card games, but no slots, no roulette, no craps. Maverick Gaming, the largest operator with 17 venues at the end, filed for Chapter 11 in July 2025.

• Washington's Lottery (retail only)

  Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto, Hit 5, Match 4, Daily Game, Cash Pop, and Daily Keno sold in person at licensed retailers. There is no iLottery and no courier service. The state's My Lottery 360 app is for scanning losing tickets to earn rewards points, not for buying tickets.

Federal challenge filed

Jan 2022Maverick Gaming sued the Department of Interior in W.D. Wash. under the Administrative Procedure Act, IGRA equal protection, and the Tenth Amendment. The goal was to invalidate the tribal-exclusive sports-betting framework set up by HB 2638.

Ninth Circuit dismissal

Dec 13, 2024Maverick Gaming LLC v. United States (23-35136). Affirmed on Rule 19: the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe was a required party and could not be joined because of sovereign immunity. The case died on a procedural ground, not the merits.

SCOTUS cert denied

Oct 6, 2025Now captioned RunItOneTime LLC v. United States after the plaintiff rebranded. The denial left the Ninth Circuit ruling in place and closed the final legal route for a non-tribal sportsbook in Washington.

Chapter 11 filed

Jul 14, 2025Three months before the SCOTUS denial, the same company filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas. EBITDA had collapsed from $52.1M in 2021 to $16.5M in 2023 with about $306M in secured debt.

The Ninth Circuit’s opinion turned on Rule 19, not on the merits of the equal-protection or Tenth Amendment arguments. The Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe was a required party to a suit attacking its own compact and could not be joined because of sovereign immunity. The Supreme Court’s October 6, 2025 cert denial in what was by then captioned RunItOneTime LLC v. United States ended the only known route to a non- tribal sportsbook in the state. The bankruptcy filing three months earlier had already removed the only plaintiff with the balance sheet to try again.

Federally recognized tribes

29All 29 hold Class III compacts with the state. The Washington State Gambling Commission negotiates and amends the compacts; the Department of Interior approves them.

Tribes operating casinos

22About 29 properties between them, with several tribes running paired venues (Tulalip + Quil Ceda Creek, Puyallup’s two Emerald Queens, Muckleshoot’s main resort plus Auburn satellite).

Economic impact (2023)

$7.4BGross state product attributable to tribal economic activity, up from $6.6 billion in 2020. WIGA report released June 2025.

Jobs supported (2023)

52K+Including 29,421 direct jobs at tribal enterprises and governments. Tribes rank as the 8th largest employer category in Washington, with 61 percent of positions held by non-Native employees.

Tribes paid out $3.9 billion in wages and benefits in 2023 and contributed roughly $1.5 billion in state and local taxes. The political math is clean. Sovereign tribal governments hold an exclusive franchise the legislature would have to negotiate away through compact amendments before any commercial online or retail casino could open. Maverick Gaming spent four years and an entire balance sheet trying to break that exclusivity through federal court. The Supreme Court said no on October 6, 2025. The $7.4 billion stays where it is.