Lower gambling tax sought in Spokane Valley

Ian Riley, the owner of Black Pearl Casino and Poker Room on North Pines Road, asked the Spokane Valley City Council in late September to lower the gambling tax rate from 10 percent to 2 percent.

“We will pay approximately $330,000 in gambling taxes this year alone and there are no deductions,” Riley told the council, adding that the number of card gaming rooms and smaller casinos has dropped by one-third over the past decade. “The industry is not getting any bigger, it’s getting smaller – and that’s due to taxation I believe.”

Riley was hoping to gain some traction with the Valley council because the city of Spokane was considering an ordinance that would lower its 10 percent gambling tax starting on Jan. 1, 2015.

Spokane City Council member Jon Snyder introduced the ordinance after he was approached by the owners of Hugo’s on the Hill, a casino and bowling alley in his district.

Yet the Spokane City Council couldn’t agree on a new tax rate – or whether a new rate is needed – and deferred its decision by at least a couple of weeks, Snyder said.

“We are looking to find a compromise,” Snyder said. “We are looking at either lowering the tax, or replacing it with a graduated rate depending on revenue, or some combination of the two.”

Spokane Valley’s 2014 budget lists expected revenue of $617,000 from gambling and other miscellaneous taxes. Spokane currently pulls in about $400,000 annually in gambling taxes.

Snyder said he sees nothing wrong with trying to work out a lower tax rate for the gambling establishments, if that helps them stay in business.

“We are looking at a couple of hundred jobs in Spokane,” he said. “That’s nothing to sneeze at.”

Riley told the Spokane Valley City Council that he employs 95 people.

Spokane Valley has no plans to review its gambling tax unless it comes up as part of the 2015 budget discussion, according to an email from Carolbelle Branch, the city’s public information officer.

Snyder said trying to help the smaller casinos and card rooms stay in business makes sense because if they all shut down gamblers will just go somewhere else.

“And then we will miss out on all the revenue,” Snyder said.