Betting on MLS has rocketed since PASPA was repealed in 2018, and since the league itself exploded in popularity in the years that followed. However, each state has its own laws around sports betting, and in the case of Washington, home of the Seattle Sounders, it’s not easy.
Sports betting is legal in Washington, but law makers were averse to making it easily accessible state wide, and as a result, MLS fans who want to wager on soccer in the Evergreen State might find themselves frustrated.
The upshot is that you can bet on MLS in Washington, but in order to do so, you have to be in one of the tribal casinos that have amended Class III gaming compacts. In other words, you have to bet in person at specific retail outlets.
Here’s everything you need to know.
History of Gambling in Washington
Washington has always been a state that tightly controlled gambling. While other states were happy to legalize and let the market sort out the rest, Washington has kept a firmer grip on exactly what happens and where.
The Evergreen State voted to legalize gambling in 1972 through a constitutional change which 60% of people were in favour of, so it can’t be called an anti-gambling state. However, even then, the newly formed Washington State Gambling Commission was careful to limit its scope. For example, card rooms were legal, but the games themselves were strictly regulated in terms of stakes, game types, and restricting the house from betting against the players.
It was all about containing gambling. Allowing enough to reduce the appeal to organised crime groups, but keeping the social impact minimal too. For example, sports betting and slots were not allowed, even though card rooms were. Bingo too. You could say that the softer side of gambling was allowed, but not the harder stuff.
In the 1980s a state lottery was approved, but again, this was a soft form of gambling and it was used to fund state projects, so was much easier for cautious lawmakers to accept.
After the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) in 1988, things changed. Tribal-state compacts became the legal engine for casino-style gaming in Washington, so they operated under a different model to regular commercial operators. This allowed them to offer a more traditional casino experience, but only within their own boundaries. Nevertheless, Washingtonians now had plenty of options if they wanted a casino, but sports betting was still not available.
The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) came into existence in 1992, effectively banning sports betting across the entire country, so this is how things stayed in Washington until 2018, when PASPA was repealed. Even then, it took Washington a couple of years before legalizing sports betting.
Online Betting is Still Illegal
One thing that sets Washington apart from many other states, is that they are still very much against online gambling in any form.
Washington took a slow and cautious approach to legalizing sports betting, with House Bill 2638 only being passed in March of 2020, almost 2 years after PASPA was repealed. This was partly because they had no pre-existing framework to build on, but also because there were a few things to iron out, and they wanted to ensure they didn’t go farther than they needed to. That meant no online betting.
The first question was working out who would be allowed to offer sports betting services. The obvious answer was the tribal casinos since they already had Class III compacts in place. However, there were other commercial ventures interested in entering the Washington market, and the existing card rooms argued that if the tribal casinos were allowed to take sports bets but they were not, it would be an unfair playing field. One operator, Maverick Gaming, even took legal action.
Nevertheless, the tribal casinos got the nod. No commercial sportsbooks were permitted and no state wide rollout was approved. It was still a slow process though, because Washington’s system required:
- individual compact amendments between tribes and the state
- regulatory approval for each sportsbook
- licensing of operators, suppliers, and technology providers
The first legal sportsbook in Washington opened in September 2021. Most tribal casinos have opened a sportsbook since, and although some do offer very limited mobile betting options, they are only available within the location of the casino, with geolocation technology keeping things legal.
So in actuality, online gambling is still illegal in Washington, even though sports betting is allowed in tribal retail venues.
MLS Teams and Soccer in Washington
MLS fans might not have the easiest time if they want to bet on soccer, but it has always been a great state for soccer in general.
Of course, Washington is home to the famous Seattle Sounders, a team dating back to 1974, so there is some rich soccer history there. The club were even considered as one of the founding members of MLS, but didn’t actually join the league until 2009, and have become one of its most successful teams since. The club has generational support because of this and that feeds into the soccer culture in Washington.
It’s a big state though, with over 8 million Washingtonians living there, so not every part of it is as soccer mad as Seattle. It is still a well developed sport in comparison to other states in the US though, at grassroots level especially, there are countless clubs for youth players to join.
Other professional and semi professional teams exist, such as Spokane Velocity FC, who are located on the Eastern border with Idaho and play in USL League One, Ballard FC who play in USL League Two and are also based in Seattle, and FC Olympia in the state capital who have a USL 2 team and a USL women’s team.
Kasey Keller, DeAndre Yedlin, and Jordan Morris were all developed locally, but they are just a few of the soccer names who learned their trade in Washington before going on to become top professionals.