The quotation below is taken from the America Casino Guide website
(www.americancasinoguide.com). It seems to explain why several
casinos in Washington offered (or used to offer) regular VP and
slots. I think the 4 casinos mentioned are two in Chewelah, Mill
Creek, and Three Rivers. All 4 are on tribal land in very sparsely
populated areas, miles from a major population center. All 22 of the
other casinos offer "special VP and slots" ... meaning very poor
paybacks (type III presumably). Most of these 22 are in heavily
populated areas in the western part of the state.
One poster said the feds removed the machines from Mill Creek, so
they may have done the same at the other three. I'll check out the
other 3 in a few weeks.
The state recently permitted a casino to be built right in Spokane,
many miles from that tribes reservation in the northeast corner of
Washington. This, in my opinion, violated the basic groundrules, but
it happened anyway ... no doubt a powerplay to force the Spokane
Tribe to conform. This new casino may doom 3 of the 4 casinos
operated by the Spokane tribe due to their remote locations on
reservation land 30-70 miles from Spokane (Mill Creek serves a
different market area).
I wish the state and feds would show some compassion and allow the
Spokanes to offer standard VP and slots ... but of course they
won't. Otherwise people in Spokane area have no incentive to make
the long drive to 3 of their 4 casinos.
I suppose the "cashless system" referred to below allows the state to
monitor (and tax) casino revenues.
All 4 of the Spokane tribe casinos are very small and "low budget"
operations, unlike many of the others. But they do (or did) offer
real slots and VP, so they are (or were) usually busy, fun places to
visit.
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Quote from American Casino Guide:
There are 26 Indian casinos operating in Washington and 22 of these
casinos are affiliated with tribes that have compacts with the state
that allow them to offer table games, as well as special video poker
and video slot machines. These machines aren't allowed to accept
cash. Instead, a cashless system is used whereby you have to go to a
cashier cage, or a kiosk, and buy a smart card which then deducts
losses from, or credits wins to, your account.
Of the state's remaining four casinos, they are affiliated with
the
Spokane Tribe which has an ongoing dispute with the state and are
operating without a compact. All four of their casinos offer regular
spinning-reel slots that accept cash, plus an assortment of table
games.