Thanks to The Columbian’s Editorial Board for deftly pointing out the flaws in the sports-gambling bill currently being considered by the Washington Legislature (“Blowing the whistle on sports-gambling bill,” The Columbian, Feb. 19). As The Columbian points out, it is flawed in a number of ways and should be rejected.
For starters, it completely leaves Washington taxpayers out of the opportunity to harvest much-needed tax revenue. The bill would permit only Native American casinos to operate sports gambling in the state and harvest all the profits since their operations are not taxed. Nothing against the casinos getting a slice of the sports-gambling action, but they shouldn’t have a monopoly.
The second flaw is pretty obvious: Citizens wishing to participate in sports gambling shouldn’t have to drive to a casino to place bets. Take a look at what Oregon has done. It created an online sports book that allows gamblers to place bets from anywhere within Oregon using a technology called geofencing. This means that Washington residents can participate in Oregon’s sports-gambling scheme. They just need to be in Oregon to place bets — a minor inconvenience for residents of Southwest Washington.
Washington should adopt a similar approach to sports betting that would please not only the patrons, but also the state treasury.
