FINAL BILL REPORT

                  HB 2382

                         C 120 L 94

                     Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Changing gambling provisions.

By Representatives Veloria, Lisk, Heavey, Horn, Anderson, Schmidt, King, Chandler, Conway and Springer.

House Committee on Commerce & Labor

Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce

Background:  In its final report to the Legislature, the Task Force on Washington State Gambling Policy included a recommendation that the reporting requirements for commercial stimulant operators should be streamlined, to the extent that this can be accomplished consistently with the public policy of the state toward gambling.  The task force agreed to the following description of the state's public policy on gambling:  "The public policy of the state of Washington on gambling is to keep the criminal element out of gambling and to promote the social welfare of the people by limiting the nature and scope of gambling activities and by strict regulation and control."

The gambling code provides that an activity is operated as a commercial stimulant only when it is an incidental activity operated in connection with, and incidental to, an established business, with the primary purpose of increasing the volume of sales of food or drink for consumption on the premises.  The commission has the authority to establish guidelines and criteria for applying this definition.

Card rooms may be operated either as a commercial stimulant or by bona fide charitable or nonprofit operators.  The operators' gross receipts are generated through collection for time, not through the level of wagering at the tables.  Card rooms may charge up to two dollars per half hour of playing time.

Summary:  The sections of the gambling code defining "commercial stimulant" and providing the maximum fee for play at a card room are amended.

An activity is operated as a commercial stimulant only when it is an activity operated in connection with an established business, with the purpose of increasing the volume of sales of food or drink for consumption on the premises.  The requirement is eliminated that the activity be incidental to the business.

The maximum amount that card rooms may charge for playing time is increased from two to three dollars per half hour of playing time.

Votes on Final Passage:

House  95 0

Senate 35 14

  Effective:  June 9, 1994