TULALIP — A pair of Seattle professional sports legends joined leaders of the Tulalip Tribes on Tuesday to mark the formal launch of sports betting in the Tulalip Resort and Quil Ceda casinos.
Each casino features a new sports book where bets can be placed at kiosks and over-the-counter. Wagers also can be placed at kiosks on the gaming floor of each operation. The Tulalip Tribes contracted with DraftKings to run sportsbooks at both sites.
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson and Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent were on hand at the Tulalip Resort Casino and the Quil Ceda Creek Casino, where gamblers considered the odds for the Mariners winning the World Series and Seahawks making it to the Super Bowl.
Johnson, a fearsome 6-foot-10 lefty who threw fastballs as hard as 102 mph, anchored the Mariners starting rotation from 1989 to 1998.
Largent played 13 seasons for the Seahawks, and he held the all-time record for career receiving yards when he retired in 1989. He later served four terms as a Republican member of the U.S. House from his home state of Oklahoma — where sports betting is still illegal.
Washington’s sports wagering law passed in 2020. The Snoqualmie Tribe opened the state’s first sportsbook at the Snoqualmie Casino a year ago. Sports betting began in the Stillaguamish Tribe’s Angel of the Winds Casino Resort in December.
State law limits sports betting to tribal casinos. Wagers can be made on on professional, collegiate, international and Olympic sports, as well as esports, but not college teams from Washington. Bets on minor league sports and high school or youth athletics are also barred.
Meanwhile, Maverick Gaming, a national gaming and entertainment company headquartered in Kirkland, has filed a federal lawsuit to invalidate gaming compact amendments concerning sports wagering and allow sports betting in non-tribal casinos and card rooms.
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