Washington Senate OKs betting on in-state collegiate sports teams amid fears of athlete harassment

OLYMPIA – Washington gamblers may soon be able to test their luck betting on the state’s collegiate sports.

The Washington state Senate passed legislation Wednesday that would allow residents to bet on the state’s college sports teams at tribal casinos – but not until after this year’s NCAA basketball tournament. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives.

Under the bill, bettors would be allowed to wager on the outcome of games or matches featuring schools from Washington. Betting on the performance of individual athletes, however, would not be allowed.

The legislation would take effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns in mid-March, meaning fans would not be able to place bets on Gonzaga Basketball during the upcoming March Madness.

The bill received broad support in the Senate, with 41 of the chamber’s 49 members voting in favor.

Bill sponsor state Sen. Adrian Cortes, D-Battle Ground, said Wednesday that residents are currently placing bets through “illicit or gray market avenues.”

“Tribal gaming has some of the strongest regulatory standards in the country, with three levels of regulations, which includes tribal, state and federal,” Cortes said.

The bill’s ban on betting on individual athletes is meant to protect them from harassment.

“We need to ensure that we protect student athletes and properly regulate sports betting on in-state college teams,” Cortes said.

State Sen. Jeff Holy, R-Cheney, who voted in favor of the bill, said it would provide structure to a currently unregulated market.

“This is the first step in an attempt to address something that’s an illicit market out there,” Holy said. “You might not like the optics on this, but this really is the only game in town. And I think it’s a proper structure to apply.”

State Sen. Jesse Salomon, D-Shoreline, who voted against the legislation, said Wednesday the bill “makes him a bit sad.”

“I look at what kids are facing these days. We all made mistakes when we were young, they didn’t live on the internet forever. We didn’t have to deal with cyberbullying. We didn’t have to deal with AI and how that’s going to shape our future,” Salomon said. “And now, what we’re saying is, our 18- and 19-year-old sons and daughters, when they play basketball for a school, there’s going to be this whole community of people looking at their every move.”

The bill comes as sports betting has seen a sharp rise in popularity in recent years. According to an October poll from Pew Research, 22% of adults said they had personally bet money on sports in the past year, up from 19% in 2021. At the same time, a growing number of adults fear the effects that legal gambling could have.

The same poll found that 43% of Americans believe it’s bad that sports betting is legal in some fashion in much of the country, up from 34% in 2022.

In a report last month, the American Gaming Association said that revenue from U.S. sports betting reached $1.92 billion in November, up 16.5% from the previous month.

Representatives from many of the state’s tribes testified in support of the legislation during a Jan. 22 committee hearing. Ron Allen, chair of the Jamestown S’klallam Tribe, told members of the Senate Business Committee that similar bets are already allowed in the state through commodity future trading markets.

According to the Financial Times, sports betting makes up more than 90% of the activity on one such site, Kalshi.

“That’s a separate matter, but this makes it legal for Washington state,” said Allen, who chairs the Washington Indian Gaming Association. Allen said the association, which represents the state’s 29 tribes, also supports the legislation.

Kevin Zenishek, executive director of casino operations at Northern Quest Resort and Casino in Airway Heights, told the committee the bill “builds on the commonsense framework for tribal sports betting” previously established by the Legislature.

“As a result, Washington has created a highly regulated sports wagering market operated at a limited number of locations,” Zenishek said.

Zenishek said the initial betting prohibition on in-state collegiate teams was meant to protect student athletes from harassment and prevent collusion.

“With the current state of the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), which you’ve heard about in previous testimony, and with apps like Kalshi at the federal level, you can place a wager now in Washington state on the Huskies, the Cougs or the Zags,” Zenishek said.

The state’s colleges, however, are less enthusiastic about the idea, and urged lawmakers to not remove language that bans betting on individual athletes.

Morgan Hickel, director of state relations at the University of Washington, told the committee that student athletes at school receive training on safety measures, learn about social media and mental health best practices, and can talk to wellness coordinators, psychologists and other support staff to help student athletes.

“Our focus is on the safety of our students,” Hickel said, adding that is important to universities that the bill includes a ban on placing wagers on a specific player’s performance.

While Hickel remained neutral, Chris Mullick, senior director of state relations at Washington State University, testified against the legislation.

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing in this bill but trouble for WSU and our student athletes, who are incredibly accessible, both on campus and online,” Mullick said.

Mullick cited a November survey of 6,800 student athletes conducted by the NCAA that found that 36% of Division I men’s basketball players reported being harassed on social media by bettors in the past year, while 29% reported an in-person interaction.

The same study found that 7% of male athletes in Division I athletics received a threatening or negative message from a bettor who had placed a wager on their team.

“This is a real problem, and expanding gambling in Washington is not the solution, in our view,” Mullick said. “This is not a mere shift of gambling from the black market to the regulated market; this is a dramatic expansion that opens a massive new market to wagers on WSU games. All of the benefits will land with others; all of the consequences will lie with us.”

“If we thought that dramatically expanding gambling on WSU games was the answer, we would have brought this ourselves,” Mullick said. “But we didn’t.”