The state of Washington is implementing the tools to get sports betting underway.

Worldwide gaming provider International Gaming Technology (IGT) has agreed to a deal to provide sports betting technology to the Snoqualmie Casino. It will facilitate retail and on-site only mobile sports wagering for the tribal casino.

The Snoqualmie Casino is in the town of Snoqualmie, about 25 miles west of Seattle and about 130 miles south of the Canadian border.

"As Seattle's closest casino, Snoqualmie Casino is thrilled to offer our patrons new types of gaming experiences backed by IGT's proven PlaySports solution," Snoqualmie Casino CEO Stanford Le said Tuesday in a news release. "IGT's leading sports betting platform, products, trading advisory services and on-premise mobile solution will allow us to quickly and easily deploy an exceptional localized sports betting program.

"As the closest sportsbook to the Seahawks' and Mariners' stadiums, expanding our offering to include sports betting will enable us to further engage sports fans at our casino and complement the popular Seahawks Pit, our immersive Seahawks-branded table game experience."

Washington Sports Betting Path to Legality

Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill into law in March 2020 to allow sports betting inside Washington’s tribal casinos. In June 2021, the Washington Gaming Commission approved 15 amendments to the state’s gaming compact to set up the framework for sports betting.

The Snoqualmie is one of 34 tribal casinos in the state, according to the American Gaming Association. As of June, 15 of them were approved to take wagers on sporting events. There are no commercial casinos in Washington and sports betting will only be available at retail locations. Mobile betting will only take place inside the casinos that offer sports betting. Washington will require in-person registration at one of the casinos accepting sports bets.

As limited as Washington’s market will be at launch without a true mobile option – states with robust mobile sports betting competition such as New Jersey, Colorado and Pennsylvania draw 90% or more of their handle from online bettors – IGT still showed interest. Seattle has teams in the NFL, MLB, Major League Soccer and the expansion Kraken entering its first season in the NHL this autumn.

"Extending our sports betting momentum to Washington state with Snoqualmie Casino is another significant milestone for the IGT PlaySports team," IGT PlayDigital Senior Vice President Enrico Drago said in Tuesday’s release. "IGT looks forward to helping the casino establish a best-in-class sports betting program and expand gaming experiences for its patrons and sports fans through our proven PlaySports technology and services."

The aim is for sports betting to launch in Washington by the 2021 NFL season.

This month, IGT, which has tie-ins for gaming solutions in more than 100 countries, struck a similar deal to provide sports betting at the Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder, Louisiana in anticipation of that state launching sports betting soon. In 55 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes, voters approved a sports betting legalization measure in a November 2020 vote.