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Voters were split on an initiative seeking to keep nontribal casinos open in Tacoma, with the no votes narrowly leading the yes votes late Tuesday.
Regardless of the outcome, though, the issue could be settled in the courts rather than at the polls.
A legal challenge of Tacoma’s casino ban, which was scheduled to take effect at the start of this year, remains pending in the state Court of Appeals. And city officials said the initiative, which sought to overturn a ban approved by the City Council in 1999, is flawed and won’t stand up to court challenge.
For now, casino supporters are hopeful.
“I’m pretty comfortable with where we’re sitting,” Michael Purdy said late Tuesday. Purdy is general manager of two Silver Dollar casinos in Tacoma and chairman of Associated Casino Employees for Survival (ACES). “Of course, I’d like to see more yeses than no’s,” Purdy said, but he believes there are thousands of votes remaining to be counted and that the final result could easily tip the other direction.
As much as he would like to see a substantial victory, Purdy said he would be happy with any margin. “What I consider a victory is being able to keep our jobs,” he said.
Mayor Bill Baarsma, a casino opponent, said he understands the close vote considering the misleading wording of the initiative and extensive campaigning by the casino supporters.
But he remains confident the council’s ban will be upheld, saying the initiative is flawed because it seeks to limit the number of casinos in the city. He called it contrary to state law and unenforceable.
“In that sense, it’s meaningless,” Baarsma said of Tuesday’s vote.
The Tacoma City Council voted to ban minicasinos in 1999, but agreed to allow existing casinos to remain open for six years so the owners could recoup their investments.
As the deadline approached, ACES rallied to keep the casinos in business. The group, financed primarily by Silver Dollar casino owner Tim Iszley, collected signatures in hopes of persuading council members to reverse the ban. When that didn’t work, they submitted their signatures to the City Clerk to put the initiative on a ballot.
But the Pierce County Auditor’s Office couldn’t verify the signatures in time for a city deadline, and the issue didn’t make it onto the ballot by the end of the year.
At the eleventh hour, ACES went to court and got an order from Pierce County Superior Court Judge Gary Steiner allowing the casinos to remain open until voters could decide whether to keep the city’s ban or reject it.
Steiner ordered a March election, but the city won an appeal on the timing of the election, moving it to Tuesday.
Assistant City Attorney Steve Victor said the initiative won’t hold up in court because it seeks to allow existing casinos to remain while prohibiting new ones from opening.
Court rulings say that a city may either ban gambling or allow it, but it can’t limit the number of casinos, Victor said.
But Purdy said he doesn’t know how the city would justify going to court once the voters have spoken.
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