RIDGEFIELD — The ilani Casino, developed by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Salishan-Mohegan, is now one of 10 casinos in Washington state where people can bet on sports.
In Washington, people cannot use popular gambling apps like Fanduel and DraftKings for sports wagering. If people want to place a bet on tonight’s Trail Blazers game or next week’s Seattle Seahawks game, they have to enter a brick-and-mortar tribal casino to do so.
Washington legalized sports wagering in 2020, allowing the state’s 29 federally recognized tribes to offer sports betting at their casinos. The Washington State Gambling Commission says 10 casinos are currently offering retail sports wagering.
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ilani celebrated the addition of its sports wagering section with an early November event, which included former Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Walter Jones.
Now, people have two ways to bet on their favorite teams at ilani: With an employee at the sportsbook counter, which is open every day for various hours, or individually at one of around 15 sports kiosks, open 24/7, throughout the casino.
People can start “building their bet” online before entering the casino, and head to a kiosk to place the bet when they arrive, according to ilani’s website. The casino’s app allows betters to listen to any game they wagered on and still walk around the rest of the casino.
The new section
The first sportsbook in Washington state opened in September 2021 at the Snoqualmie Casino near Seattle.
In Washington, federally recognized tribes can offer certain games, like slots, blackjack, craps and poker. ilani offers those — including 3,000 slots and 75 gaming tables — as well as 18 different restaurants, such as Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse.
Now, the casino located on the Cowlitz Reservation also has a sports wagering section with the region’s largest video wall, at 68 feet long and 14 feet high, according to Tom Teesdale, vice president of marketing.
“We got CO2 cannons when teams score, crazy graphics across the screen, [and] prizes,” he said, allowing guests to bet on any major sporting event, from the World Cup to the World Series.
According to the state gambling commission, people can bet on professional and collegiate sports and events, and Olympics or international sports at the casinos, but wagers are not allowed on in-state collegiate sports, minor league sports and esports.
Teesdale said sports gaming, along with table games and slots, allows “another experience” for guests at the 400,000-square-foot casino. The Stadium Sports Bar and Grill seats over 100 people, and a video DJ performs for Monday night Football games.
The betting lounge supplies players with cushioned chairs as they watch highlights of the game.
The sports betting section is called Stadium Bar and Gill because, much like at a sports stadium, the seating has levels. In ilani, the seating rolls down to a bar and three large screens displaying games and the latest odds from Vegas.
History and future
The opening of ilani in 2017 coincided with one of the most important cases in gambling history being contested in the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2018 the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was ruled unconstitutional, allowing individual states to enact laws that govern regulated sports betting.
Before 2018 a person would have to travel to Las Vegas or find a bookie to make a wager. Now, the future of sports gambling is everywhere, all the time and all at once, thanks to the internet and mobile phones. (Although, according to the American Gambling Association, only 22 states and the District of Columbia have legalized online sports betting so far.)
Gambling and sports have had a rocky history, from the 1919 World Series, when eight members of the Chicago White Sox allegedly took bribes from the mob to throw the series, to the 2007 NBA betting scandal, when referee Tim Donaghy was arrested for gambling on NBA games he was officiating.
In March, Calvin Ridley of the Atlanta Falcons was suspended for the entire 2022 NFL season for gambling on football games. He had to forfeit his expected $11 million salary after betting a total of $1,500, according to the Associated Press.
Despite its checkered past with those involved in the games being betted on, ilani President and General Manager Kara Fox-LaRose sees the local opportunity as a way to bring money to the region and recognition to the Cowlitz Indian Tribe.
“This new offering is another exciting amenity for our guests, as well as an opportunity to draw in new visitors from the region and beyond,” she said in a statement “We expect this feature will generate greater economic revenue for the region as well as cultural opportunities as a wider audience is introduced to ilani and the Cowlitz people.”
ilani’s next focus is its luxury 300-room-hotel, which is currently under construction and set to open in 2023. The hotel will include an elevated pool, a top-floor restaurant and a lobby bar.