Small Stakes Nontribal Casinos Hope To Attract Those Looking For A Night Out
Gambling is only the hook to get customers in the door, insists Fred Steiner, operator of the first nontribal casino to open legally in Washington state.
Steiner has invested $1.5 million in Freddie’s Club, which opened Friday with eight blackjack tables, seven poker tables, a full food and drink menu, 300 employees and a nightclub ambiance in this suburb southeast of Seattle.
After 24 years of running Diamond Lil’s, a poker club across the street, he says he wants to attract customers more interested in drinking and socializing than in gambling, filling a niche between the big-entertainment tribal casinos and the more gritty, low-stakes cardrooms.
“Say cardroom to most people and they visualize a dumpy thing in the back of a tavern,” Steiner said. “We want this to be a casino atmosphere, where people have a drink and socialize.”
Freddie’s is likely to help the area, said Lisa Lamoreaux, executive director of the Renton Downtown Association.
“It’s a welcomed addition because of the foot traffic it will create in the downtown core,” Lamoreaux said. “I’ve heard good things about the atmosphere. … It’s just a very classy business.”
Steiner began seeking a gaming license in 1991, when he bought the 10,000-square-foot building and adjacent apartment complex. He and other cardroom operators began lobbying in Olympia.
At the time, nontribal operations were limited to cardrooms charging as much as $3 a chair per half-hour. Poker was limited to $10 a bet, a cardroom could have no more than five poker tables and the house was barred from being the bank in blackjack.
Last year the Legislature agreed to increase the table limit to 15 and to allow the house to collect a fee for each hand and a percentage of the total betting on each hand.
This spring, Gov. Gary Locke approved a two-year pilot study of allowing mini-casinos with house-banked card games and $25 betting limits.
Freddie’s Club officially opened on Nov. 10, three days before the official opening of Silver Lanes Casino in Spokane.
The state Gambling Commission has a list of 60 cardrooms interested in opening the mini-casinos, said Carrie Tellefson, the agency’s director of policy, planning and support.
Steiner said he paid $35,000 for a state license and more than $100,000 for state-required surveillance equipment.
A back room houses a bank of 32 video screens with a view of every player at every table and each employee in the house bank.
“It’s an incredibly expensive undertaking,” Steiner said.
Steiner hopes he will be allowed to raise the maximum bet to $100 after he has been open for six months.
Tribal casinos like the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn have $500 betting limits and offer craps and roulette, which nontribal operators remain barred from offering.