Maverick Gaming, a gaming and entertainment company based in Kirkland, Washington, has filed a lawsuit with the District of Columbia challenging the misapplication of the Indian Gaming Regulation Act, which is being improperly used to grant ethnic exclusive rights to certain types of games, such as sports betting, which is not allowed in Washington state's tribal and non-tribal gaming property.
"We support and respect tribal equality and sovereignty," said Eric Persson, CEO and co-founder of Maverick Gaming. "Our decision to file this lawsuit is based on the same values we have brought to all our efforts at Maverick Gaming. We are proud of Washington's union-led workforce, which provides benefits and pensions for family wage jobs, helping communities across their home state access economic opportunities. Access to economic opportunities depends on the fair application of laws like the Indian Gaming Regulation Act, and I hope that this lawsuit will be resolved successfully so that tribal casinos and small commercial card rooms like those owned by Maverick Gaming can already offer the same type of legitimate games like sports betting as other states offer."
Maverick Gaming is represented by Gibson Dunn, who maintains a legal team led by Theodore B. Olson, Matthew D. McGill, and Rocklan F. Shelper. Among other related experiences held by Maverick Gaming's legal representative, Olsen successfully represented the state of New Jersey in Murphy v. NCAA, which ruled in 2018 allowing individual states to create markets for sports betting that are legal, regulated and taxed.
"The Indian Gaming Regulation Act was intended to ensure parity between tribal and non-tribal games, but unfortunately, the state of Washington is misusing IGRA to create tribal monopolies for certain types of games, like sports betting," said Theodore B. Olson, a partner at Gibson Dunn. "In contrast to IGRA's own words, the law is being used to isolate tribes from competition with the legal gaming market that exists in many other states in Washington state. We look forward to resolving this issue so that IGRA's intentions and wording are reflected in the regulated gaming market in Washington state for tribal and commercial businesses."
