Negligent on gambling taxes

I read with total disgust that $507,000 in unpaid gambling taxes are owed to the city of Spokane Valley. It was two years ago that I warned a city administrator that this debacle could happen if local law enforcement investigators did not conduct random audits on these gambling establishments.

As a former Seattle-area detective, I was tasked with conducting these gambling audits of gambling establishments on a quarterly basis to make absolutely sure that proper taxes were being paid to the city, and also to ascertain that pull tab operations were in compliance and that patrons were not being cheated by games being pulled too early so that big prizes would not be paid out.

Violations in these two areas could lead to fines, closure and/or loss of license. It should be noted that a certain number of law enforcement positions are mandated to be paid by these taxes. It appears that local audits were not being performed by local law enforcement, or that city administrators do not have a clue as to the importance of this audit.

The city has an obligation to explain the negligence of this issue to the citizens of Spokane Valley.

John G. Kallas

Spokane Valley