Less than a year ago I ranted how fast Washington State made online a gambling a felony. Some of the excuses trotted out for making what was previous a misdemeanor a felony included using the “what about the children” cries, the unregulated industry and more. Nevermind that very few prosecutions for people gambling online were made when it was a misdemeanor nor that a number of contributions were made to senators and even our state governor from the indian tribes.

Since the law was enacted I’ve heard rumblings that people are trying to get this legislation reversed or reduced back down to a misdemeanor, but like tax increases, it’s very difficult to bring the horses back to the barn.

There was also a bill that I voted for that would have allowed non-tribal businesses to open casinos. That was struck down by popular vote.

So what does our state government do that doesn’t want to allow gambling anywhere but on tribal lands or through the state lottery? Approve further expansion on tribal lands.

Tribes now are allowed to operate 675 gambling machines, although the Muckleshoot, Tulalip and Puyallup tribes are allowed to lease or purchase as many as 3,000 terminals. The new compacts allow most tribes to have as many as 975 machines. The other three tribes will able to expand to 3,500 and, after three years, to 4,000.

Amazing.

It is politics like this that frustrate me. If the majority of the voting residents in Washington state don’t want gambling expanded, then why is the state government in Olympia signing off to expand gambling here further?

Just to be clear, I support a gambling expansion in the state and am a recreational gambler (heck, we were at a couple indian casinos last weekend). I would like this open to all businesses, not only the indian tribes, and would like it taxed accordingly. We can then use this tax money to improve schools, roads and reduce property and sales taxes. With a fraction of the $2 billion dollars going into indian casinos, taxes could easily put laptop computers in the hands of every student in the state.

Maybe I am missing something here but can’t we tack on some sort of rider for the expansion at least where the gambling revenues are taxed? If no indian casinos can ever pay taxes by federal mandate on tribal land, then we need to revisit expansion on non-tribal land incurring taxation.

The problem I have with too many politicians is it seems like they are sitting around trying to come up with more ways to make us tighten our belts while they spend more or allow businesses to expand that have less impact on the tax economy in the state.

• Some soldiers are getting hooked on military run slot machines
• Google, Yahoo and Microsoft ante up $31.5 million in fines for promoting online gambling
• On June 7 online gambling becomes felony in Washington state
• Washington resident sent cease-and-desist over online casino review site
• Foxwoods controversial web Keno results
• Wireless gambling approved in Nevada