Casino Gambling in Washington State

Although gambling is not legal in many parts of the United States, the west coast still has its fair share of states that do.

One of those states is Washington. There are casinos that can be found all over the state that offer all kinds of entertainment including spas, hotels, attractions, and other amenities that come with full-service resorts. You can also indulge in fine dining, events and shows, and of course a large range of gaming. Another thing that is legal in Washington is the ability to have card rooms.

One thing to note is that all of the casinos that are located in the state are actually tribal - owned. A few of these tribal-owned casinos (namely the Two Rivers and Chewelah resorts owned by the Spokane Tribe) have caused some legal issues with the state and are a part of an on-going conflict with the state and its laws. They are accused of running without any type of official compact. Most of the other casinos, however, are legally operated and run without any problems.

When you attend any of these casinos in the state of Washington you are likely to find roulette, craps, slot machines, black jack, and even video terminals. You will also find bingo, baccarat, poker, and more. There is a lot of variety in each casino, and you can usually find something that will appeal to every gambler. Washington is largely heralded as having some of the best gambling variety outside of Las Vegas, NV.

Laws in Washington state that a person must be at least 21 years of age before they can gamble inside of casinos and that they must be at least 18 years old in order to do any pari-mutuel wagering or play in any bingo games. If you do want to check out the card rooms you will find that they are allowed to have a 15 table maximum and the betting caps range from $25 all the way to $1000 per bet. Individual cities will have differing laws on gambling so you need to make sure that you are aware of the laws before you put all of your eggs in that basket. For instance, Seattle does not allow any card rooms within city limits, so you don't want to go there and then not be able to find what you are looking for.

There are a total of 28 owned and operating casinos in Washington state and you will find that some of the machines in the casinos accept cash while others use a cashless system where you have to go through a cashier, or kiosk, to get playing money. This way all of your gambling can be done through a single account and wins or deductions will be added to or taken away from the account. Some casinos will even use the TITO (ticket in, ticket out) method of receipts to keep track of money.

The casinos in Washington are also not required to release any information that is about percentage payouts attached to slot machines. The only guaranteed information on payouts is that the electronic "scratch" ticket games have a minimum prize payout of 75%.