Poker players, Snoqualmie Casino, tribal casinos, poker room, jackpot

Poker players accuse that Snoqualmie Casino, in Washington, is ripping them off through a particular format. The players point out the case of a player-supported jackpot, for which they contributed thousands of dollars. The poker room is closing now, and there is no sign of getting that money back.

Here, a player-supported jackpot is a special fund of money contributed by poker players who frequent a certain poker room at Snoqualmie Casino. Each hand, the casino takes a “rake,” which goes to the jackpot. The jackpot can reach tens of thousands of dollars and players get a cut of that jackpot if they hit a high hand.

In late July, the jackpot at Snoqualmie Casino’s poker room had reached just over $58,000.

Long-time poker player Lucas Newman says under the total, which is posted on a wall of the poker room and updated every day, is what he believes is a written promise that the casino made to its poker players.

“The promise and the claim that Snoqualmie makes is that 100 percent of the funds collected from the player-supported jackpot will be allocated to poker jackpots. So not blackjack jackpots, not slot machine jackpots, not other games, but specifically poker jackpots,” Newman said.

Newman says not following that written promise is unethical. The reason he knows his interpretation of the sign isn’t being followed is because of another sign placed just outside of the room informing players the poker room is closing and what the casino plans to do with the jackpot money.

“Outside of the room there is a description of ‘hey, we’re closing, here’s what we’re going to do, here’s what’s going to happen with the jackpots, and here’s where the rest of the money is going to go,’ which is where this whole thing came about because people read that and said, ‘hey, that seems kind of unethical,’” Newman said.

The sign outside the poker room was placed there a month in advance of the poker room closing. It’s there that the casino told the players what will happen with their money: it stopped collecting money for the jackpot on July 25. Between July 25 and Aug. 2, the jackpot payouts increased by “approximately double.” Any funds left after the closing of the room were distributed to another game at the casino.

The poker players say this means potentially thousands of dollars of their money will now be used by the casino to promote another game.

According to the Washington State Gambling Commission, Snoqualmie Casino can do this. It is not how the state would advise non-tribal card rooms to handle the closing of a jackpot, but commission spokesperson Heather Songer says Snoqualmie is not breaking any rules and she explains the difference between commercial (or state-regulated card rooms) and tribal casinos.

Source: mynorthwest-com