Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Lake Stevens city officials are looking at ways to make sure the city's low
gambling tax doesn't bring a flood of card rooms and casinos to the city. A
moratorium on such gambling establishments is one option city administrator
Jan Berg plans to discuss with the City Council tonight. "They asked me to
look at all the options," Berg said of the City Council. No vote is expected
at the meeting today, but there's a good chance the council will let Berg
know its preferred course of action, City Council president Heather Coleman
said. "Moratorium is a strong word," she said. "We want to look at the
entire issue a little more closely, but in the meantime everybody has to be
able to do business." In December, the City Council unanimously approved a
new tax on gambling businesses. The tax is less than half of Snohomish
County's gambling tax rate. Before then, the city had no gambling tax, Berg
said. The tax was approved in advance of the addition of Frontier Village to
the city, where the Highway 9 Casino is located. Frontier Village became
part of the city on Dec. 20.The Highway 9 Casino is the only existing casino
in the Lake Stevens area. "We wouldn't like to become the most attractive
place" for card rooms and casinos, Coleman said. The gambling tax will help
pay for policing of the gambling businesses, Police Chief Randy Celori has
said. As of last July, nine Snohomish County cities had prohibitions against
gambling businesses. Statewide, 64 cities and towns and five counties had
such bans, according to the state Gambling Commission.