WASHINGTON STATE REGISTER

WSR 10-19-048

PERMANENT RULES

GAMBLING COMMISSION

[ Order 672 -- Filed September 13, 2010, 2:09 p.m. , effective October 15, 2010 ]

Effective Date of Rule: October 15, 2010.

Purpose: This rule creates an eighteen month pilot program to test the regulatory and economic impacts of increasing the wager limits from $40 to $100 for Texas Hold'em poker. In addition, the pilot program would help to determine whether there is a demand for higher wagering limits for Texas Hold'em poker. At the end of the pilot program, the commission will evaluate the data collected in the report and use it to determine whether the wager increase should be made permanent.

Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 9.46.070, 9.46.0282.

Adopted under notice filed as WSR 10-15-075 on July 19, 2010.

Changes Other than Editing from Proposed to Adopted Version:

• The original version filed at the July 2010 commission meeting, required staff to report pilot program findings at the November 2012 commission meeting. Language was changed and staff will now provide a midprogram report at the July 2011 commission meeting and report final results of the pilot program along with recommendations at the May 2012 commission meeting.

• Language was added, that if approved by the commission, licensees in the program may continue to operate at the one hundred dollar wager limits until the commission finally approves or disapproves that wager limit, or until December 31, 2012, whichever comes first.

• Language was added requiring card rooms to notify staff when they plan to offer higher limit games.

• The original version filed at the July 2010 commission meeting, listed several of the items required on the tracking form. Three additional items that were on the tracking form have been added into the rule. Now all items on the tracking form will be codified in the rule, not just some of them.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Date Adopted: September 13, 2010.

Susan Arland

Rules Coordinator

OTS-3379.5

Alternative #2
NEW SECTION
WAC 230-15-189 House-banked and Class F card game licensee pilot program on wagering limits for Texas Hold'em poker. The commission finds it to be in the public's interest to conduct a pilot program to test the regulatory and economic impact of increasing wagering limits for the game of Texas Hold'em poker to one hundred dollars.

(1) The pilot program will commence October 15, 2010, and data collection will continue through March 31, 2012. House-banked or Class F card game licensees who wish to be included in the pilot program must submit a written request to participate to the director or his designee.

(2) Staff will provide a mid-program report at the July 2011 commission meeting, and report final results of the pilot program along with their recommendations at the May 2012 commission meeting. Licensees in the pilot program may continue to operate at the one hundred dollar wager limits until the commission finally approves or disapproves that wager limit, or until December 31, 2012, whichever comes first.

(3) House-banked or Class F card game licensees must notify us of when they plan to conduct higher limit games.

(4) House-banked or Class F card game licensees must document, retain and provide the following information to us monthly, and such further information we may request, in the format we prescribe during the pilot program:

(a) Dates, times, and number of tables operating under the pilot program; and

(b) Number of players at pilot program tables every hour the games are operated; and

(d) Daily food and beverage sales; and

(e) The number of customers requesting to be self-barred; and

(f) All incidents of suspected cheating occurring at tables offering the higher wager limits.

(5) In the event a licensee fails to attempt to comply with the requirements of the pilot program, the director shall have the authority to remove that licensee from participation in the pilot program. Upon removal from the pilot program, the licensee will return to the wagering limits authorized in WAC 230-15-135. Removal from the pilot program shall not be subject to review or appeal.

[]

•	The original version filed at the July 2010 commission meeting, required staff to report pilot program findings at the November 2012 commission meeting. Language was changed and staff will now provide a midprogram report at the July 2011 commission meeting and report final results of the pilot program along with recommendations at the May 2012 commission meeting.
•	Language was added, that if approved by the commission, licensees in the program may continue to operate at the one hundred dollar wager limits until the commission finally approves or disapproves that wager limit, or until December 31, 2012, whichever comes first.
•	Language was added requiring card rooms to notify staff when they plan to offer higher limit games.
•	The original version filed at the July 2010 commission meeting, listed several of the items required on the tracking form. Three additional items that were on the tracking form have been added into the rule. Now all items on the tracking form will be codified in the rule, not just some of them.

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