By Rebecca George
In a major national win for tribal sovereignty — and for safe and well-regulated gaming — the U.S. Supreme Court in early October declined to hear Maverick Gaming v. United States and State of Washington. That decision keeps the Ninth Circuit’s unanimous December 2024 ruling fully in place, upholding Washington’s state-tribal gaming framework under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
This outcome preserves the carefully negotiated gaming compacts between tribal governments and the State of Washington. For Washington’s tribes, it’s a decisive victory. More broadly, it is a powerful reaffirmation of tribal sovereignty and the proven strength of the nation’s state-tribal regulatory partnership.
For more than 35 years, IGRA has struck a clear and stable balance between states and tribal governments. Tribes are sovereign nations. Our compacts with state governments and federal regulators are binding legal contracts that cannot be undone at the whim of a private neighborhood card room gambling operator.
Maverick Gaming’s federal lawsuit, filed in January 2022 after repeated failures to persuade the Washington state legislators to expand gambling, was a last-ditch effort to overturn federal law, sidestep bipartisan policy, and disregard the will of Washington’s voters. Had it succeeded, it would have destabilized the safe, limited gaming structure Washington has cultivated for more than three decades.
Fortunately, the courts saw it for what it was. After the Shoalwater Bay Tribe intervened to defend its compact and sovereign interests, both the district court and the Ninth Circuit held that the lawsuit could not proceed without violating the tribe’s rights as a sovereign nation. The Supreme Court’s refusal to disturb those rulings is now the final word.
We view this cascade of wins as confirmation of what Washington tribes have demonstrated for generations: legal, transparent, and regulated tribal gaming works. It allows responsible adults to participate in gaming activities without making gaming so easily accessible that it leads to serious social harm — an especially important contrast to the recent national sports betting scandals.
As the dust settles, Maverick Gaming’s financial troubles continue. The parent company, Run It One Time LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas. Public records show that an entity tied to Maverick Gaming’s leadership reacquired three gaming assets placed into bankruptcy. In other words, a bankrupt operator attempted to rewrite federal law, lost, and is now maneuvering to reclaim the very assets it lost. This episode underscores why Congress entrusted gaming regulation to states and tribal governments — entities that are accountable regulators, where integrity, auditing, and public interests come first.
The mission of tribes and private gambling interests is vastly different. Tribal and state-regulated gaming revenues fund government programs — from healthcare and education to housing, infrastructure, and environmental restoration. In contrast, private operators direct profits to individuals and out-of-state or international investors. Our gaming laws in Washington state were written to ensure gaming serves the public good, not private greed.
While Maverick faces bankruptcy, Washington state’s gaming industry remains stable and strong. Washington tribes generate more than $7.4 billion annually in economic activity for communities across the state. And the Washington Indian Gaming Association (WIGA) remains committed to ensuring safe, well-regulated gaming in our state.
We will continue to defend that balance — and sovereignty of tribal nations — with all the strength this moment demands.
