The active members of promoting Gambling in Lakewood and the Northwest

The players

ACES (Associated Casino Employees for Survival)

Supposed grass-roots campaign (2006), directed by Tim Iszley (Silver Dollar Casino chain founder), to keep minicasinos in Tacoma – not only failed in Initiative 1 (which sought to repeal Tacoma’s ban on minicasinos – two Silver Dollar Casinos and the Rising Dragon), but is accused of using photographs on their Web site of paid Labor Ready signature-gatherers to pose as “single moms who supported families with casino wages.”^ⁱ

Anderson, Eric

Tacoma’s City Manager approached by the Vancouver, B.C. Evergreen Gaming Corp.’s lobbyist Tom Dooley with a request to sell the land under the banned Silver Dollar Casino on Hosmer St. to Lakewood so the casino could stay open. Evidently Anderson did not respond to Dooley’s request. The Silver Dollar chain (13, then 11 after the ban) had been bought out from founder Tim Iszley by Evergreen.^ⁱⁱ

Arbeeny, John

Lakewood City Councilman who said, “Lakewood’s an unfriendly gambling venue.” But as Callaghan responded in his column of September 18, 2007, given that Lakewood now has the distinction of leading the state in the number of card room tables with 90, thus earning the title “the nontribal gambling capital of Washington state”, Callaghan says, “If that’s unfriendly, what would friendly look like?. Only Shoreline, with seven casinos but only 87 licensed tables, comes close. After those is La Center, with four casinos and 60 tables, and Spokane, with five casinos and 59 tables. So if Lakewood’s policy is to discourage the growth of minicasinos, it’s not doing a very good job of it.”^ⁱⁱⁱ
Arbeeny said he wants “to get gambling out of Lakewood. We can’t continue to put this off another six months.”^{^iv}

Arland, Susan

Spokesperson for the Washington State Gambling Commission who stated that the commission’s position with regards the moratoriums imposed by the City of Lakewood are “not valid”, and that “state officials would process any new applications that come to them but “they let applicants know about the moratorium.”^{^v}

Association of Washington Cities (AWC)

Lobbyists for AWC and the minicasinos combined efforts, unsuccessfully, to get House Bill 1477 and Senate Bill 5558 through the legislature. This would have frozen the number of casinos to those already open. It also would have given cities and counties, for the first time, the legal ability to decide where casinos can open. “Under current law, cities and counties can allow minicasinos or they can ban them. But if they allow them, they can’t limit the number, placement or the scope of gambling. “Cities and counties could still ban casinos completely – as Tacoma, Seattle, Fircrest, Gig Harbor, Puyallup, Sumner and Pierce County have. However, if local governments don’t mind the casinos they have but don’t want more, then this could give them an option. “Lakewood was cited as an example during legislative hearings. The city has five casinos open or in the process (six, according to Lakewood Assistant City Manager and Community Development Director Dave Bugher in a Public Disclosure Request of September, 2007). It also faces consistent rumors that additional casinos are eyeing the city, rumors that fuel demands for the city to impose a ban. “ ‘We’re protecting Lakewood,’” (lobbyist Tom) Dooley told the committees. ‘If people are happy with what they have, let’s preserve that.’ “Governments would have the option of creating zones where additional casinos might locate. Even within those zones, 500-foot buffers would keep casinos away from churches, schools and city halls. While no new casinos could be licensed, existing casinos around the state could relocate in limited circumstances. “The bills also would end a legal battle in Kenmore where a longstanding casino is being forced to close. While the city was supportive of Kenmore Lanes, it did not want additional casinos. But its only option was to ban both old and new. “What would the legislation mean to places like Tacoma that have bans? Those cities could lift their bans and determine where in the city casinos could operate. But only if an existing casino were allowed by the Gambling Commission to move could it locate in places that have dropped bans. “ ‘If a city opens up, it has to know it wouldn’t lead to a flood of new licenses into a jurisdiction,’” said Delores Chiechi of the Recreational Gaming Association. “Local governments have wanted zoning authority ever since the Legislature authorized minicasinos. The industry became supportive as the number of cities and counties imposing bans increased. “But the bills failed due to opposition to local zoning from Sen. Margarita Prentice. The Renton Democrat, who supported a freeze, once led the committee that handled gambling legislation and now is chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee. “Prentice, however, is the prime sponsor of the Senate bill, having lifted her objections to the zoning concept. She said the bill blocks expansions of commercial gambling and allows casinos to remain in locations where the public seems to tolerate them. “The deal represents a pragmatic retreat for the minicasinos. “The industry realizes it has little room to grow. And this gives it a chance to survive as the state and federal governments turn more gambling over to the tribes.”^{^vi}

Baarsma, Bill

Tacoma’s Mayor (and gambling opponent) who said that the loss of tax revenue from banned casinos “won’t have much affect on the city budget because officials considered it short-term revenue and weren’t counting on it continuing.”^{^vii}
Note: Compare with Lakewood City Manager Andrew Neiditz who “proposed eliminating the sliding scale gambling tax and replacing it with a flat tax of 11 percent to make it easier to administer and to predict revenues.”^{^viii}

Bakamis, Greg

Greg Bakamis, Regional Director and General Manager for the Grand Central Casinos (GCC) /Great American Casino, spoke March 20, 2003 at Lakewood United regarding the upcoming-summer opening of the newest GCC at Highway 512 and South Tacoma Way in Lakewood. Bakamis shared his 28-year involvement in the hospitality industry, most recently in the Tukwila Grand Central Casino. He told how nice and upscale it was; how the police chief had sent a letter praising its crime-free status; the number of employees, good benefits and welfare mothers they’d taken off the street and put to work; civic affairs they supported; baseball teams they sponsored; the high regard in which they are held by the State Gambling Commission and thorough background checks they conduct; 24/7 security; safety for patrons and employees alike – all of which Lakewood would see with entertainment seating for 400, and 385 employees; “a tremendous amount of light in the parking lot”; and the amount of tax dollars they would generate for the city.

Bakamis then said, “I want to address some misconceived notions. I do not drive a big black Cadillac or live in a sprawling mansion. I drive a truck and live in Puyallup. I want to emphasize that the anti-gambling position is simply one of education. The statistics they (anti-gambling) print about crime and social costs simply can’t happen here. Three-hundred thousand people get off planes in Las Vegas every day. We watch for problem gamblers and don’t let them continue. Major crime is not an issue. The crime rate actually went down in Tukwila. We’re actually in the food and beverage, not the gambling, business. We’re not compelling people to come in. Our facility has a number of different venues, not just gambling. Bakamis expressed concern about the need to “level the playing field”. The Entertainment Coalition (evidently a reference to Evergreen Entertainment which is a part of the Great American Casino) had proposed, and Bakamis favored, a plan to increase the number of slot machines to nearly 19,000 throughout the state. “Our quarrel is not with the Indians, it’s with the State. We just want everything to be fair,” Bakamis said. But at the same time Bakamis stated, “We have 82 casinos in this state and we have reached the saturation point. Washington will never be a Las Vegas.” When asked if Bakamis hoped the soon-to-be-opened newest Grand Central Casino might become a destination casino - that is people arriving from elsewhere as opposed to local patrons, Bakamis replied, “I would love to be a destination casino. But it’s not likely. Our clientele will be local citizens for the most part.”

Bakamis “said that in 2005, when the tax rate moved between 14.5 percent and 11 percent, his business paid $851,000 in city taxes. In 2006, at the 11 percent rate, the casino paid $676,000.”^{^ix}
“(Bakamis) told the City Council (March 12, 2007) that a sliding scale tax makes his business more hesitant to donate to charities and other community causes because it doesn’t know for sure how much discretionary income it will have.”^{^x}

Bemis, Dave

General Manager of Lakewood’s Grand Central Casino at Highway 512 & South Tacoma Way^{^xi}

Benson, Cody

Former ACES campaign manager, also a registered and sometimes-Olympia lobbyist. Said she was directed by Tim Iszley (former Silver Dollar Casino chain founder who was bought out by the Vancouver B.C. Evergreen Gaming Corp.) to contract with Labor Ready to obtain signature gatherers for the failed Initiative 1 campaign only to have some of them allegedly photographed and their pictures posted on the ACES website as if they were single-mom casino workers facing unemployment were casinos to be banned. Labor Ready “continues to try to collect a $23,000 bill – first from Purdy and now from Benson” - and never reported to the Public Disclosure Commission. Mike Purdy was head of the ACES campaign while managing a Silver Dollar Casino on Sixth Avenue, who has since sued Evergreen Gaming Corp., alleging wrongful termination. Purdy has started a gambling consulting business.^{^xii}

Bugher, Dave

Lakewood Community Development Director commenting on the July, 2003 opening of the Grand Central Casino (Highway 512 and South Tacoma Way), said that they are “part of a wave of development. . . . I applaud them for trying to provide for more than what we usually see in minicasinos.”^{^xiii}
Lakewood Assistant City Manager and Community Development Director who submitted a lengthy packet to the Planning Advisory Board (PAB) on July 25, 2007 with regards gambling (copies available). In each of the twelve ordinances/resolutions enacting moratoriums on gambling in Lakewood since 1998, there is the purpose similarly stated to “consider properly and carefully all of the factors involved in determining the appropriate role of gambling in the City” (Ord. 283, July 29, 2002). In four of those twelve documents this study is delegated to the PAB/staff, the first of which is January 17, 2006 (Res.2006-02). But not until over a year later was this study by the PAB actually commenced with Bugher’s presentation, and two months after that the PAB is requesting more time.^{^xiv} Interestingly this phrase “needs more time”, like the phrase “proposes to study”, also occurs twelve times over nine years – in every one of the council’s ordinances/resolutions concerning gambling.
Rob Tucker, reporter, Tacoma News Tribune: “the number of minicasinos in Lakewood has doubled from three to six, since the moratorium was imposed” (apparently referring to Ord. 398, November 21, 2005 – copies of all ordinances/resolutions are available). “The city allowed the three because they were in the process of building or getting city permits before the moratorium took effect. The city had no choice under state law but to allow them. . . said Dave Bugher”.^{^xv}

Note: According to two public disclosure requests (late-July and then again late-August, 2007) there are two nearly-two-year gaps in the nine-year period of moratoriums where no moratoriums at all were in place in Lakewood. Between the beginning of a series of moratoriums affecting every month between their inception on October 19, 1998 and their expiration on October 5, 2000, and the newest flurry of moratoriums that began on November 21, 2005 to the present, there is a single six-month moratorium that covers the period of July 29, 2002 to the end of January, 2003. On either side of that single moratorium-in-the-middle, there is nearly a two-year gap (1 year, 10 months) of no activity at all with regards gambling. The second public disclosure request was to verify that these gaps did in fact exist and no documents had been overlooked that affected gambling in the City of Lakewood (see appendix for requests for documents, results and confirming letter from the City that a careful search had been conducted as per the request submitted).

CAGE - Citizens Against Gambling Expansion

CAGE sent a statement (April, 2003) signed by more than 30 elected officials to the media and legislators opposing expansion of the state Lottery’s keno game entitled “Local officials oppose new state-sponsored numbers game” and, “Cities and counties don’t want ‘keno lounges’ in their jurisdiction”. No council member from Lakewood was listed as joining in the statement although the following were: Jean Burbidge, Mayor of Federal Way; Barbara Skinner, Mayor of Sumner; Barbara Gelman, Pierce County Council; Linda Kochmar, Federal Way City Council; Marilyn Owel, Gig Harbor City Council; and Mike Lonergan, Tacoma City Council, all of whom were among the more proximate-to-Lakewood officials.

Chamber of Commerce, Lakewood

“The Lakewood Chamber of Commerce supports it (dropping tax rate on mini-casinos to 11 percent from previous sliding-scale of 11 to 20 percent) – its directors said in a letter to the council that the sliding tax was unfair and singled out one industry.”^{^xvi}

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