City may get two new casinos on 220th Street
Both are expected to be on 220th Street Southwest between Highway 99 and Interstate 5, where the city's sole casino, the Silver Dollar, now operates.
The Crazy Moose Casino plans to open in January in the former China Passage Restaurant at 220th and 66th Avenue West. The owners also run a casino of the same name in Pasco.
Another casino, the Red Dragon, is planned for a vacant lot at Highway 99 and 220th. Building plans filed with the city show a three-story, 12,300-square-foot building with a casino, restaurant, two bars and offices. The owner, Geordie Sze, is president of Parker's Casino in Shoreline.
The state Gambling Commission is reviewing license applications for the two casinos.
Though gambling has been a contentious issue in nearby Edmonds, with a citizens initiative in 2000 that led to a ban on all casinos, Mountlake Terrace has welcomed the businesses and the gambling-tax revenue they generate. The Silver Dollar last year brought in about $660,000 in gambling taxes.
"The casino has been a godsend to us," said Mountlake Terrace Mayor Pat Cordova, who noted the city has lost $1.5 million in tax revenue annually since 2001 because of voter-approved tax limits.
"I can understand why gambling's an issue in Edmonds, but we'll be happy to take their revenues," Cordova said.
Mountlake Terrace Police Chief Scott Smith said his department's preliminary inquiries into both owners identified no significant law-enforcement problems, though more-extensive background checks will be completed when operators apply for city business licenses, he said.
The state Gambling Commission also completes extensive criminal and financial background checks of all applicants, said Derry Fries, the commission's assistant director of licensing. Checks include investigations of the funding sources, all financial principals and their families.
Licenses are site-specific, so even though an applicant may have a casino elsewhere, the commission reviews each plan individually.
In Pasco, where the Crazy Moose has operated since 2001, police reported no significant problems.
But the other facilities of Red Dragon owner Sze have encountered a few stumbling blocks, none related to gambling operations.
Shoreline brought two legal actions against Parker's Casino in the past two years, City Attorney Ian Sievers said. The city sued when Parker's attempted to open an off-track betting satellite for Emerald Downs in Auburn.
Though the satellite is a legal form of gambling, Shoreline told Parker's it would need a special-use permit to operate there. The city's main concern was adequate parking, Sievers said, and the City Council granted a permit for the satellite in June.
Shoreline closed the casino for several weeks last year when the owners tried to operate after construction to expand the casino but before a new sprinkler system was installed.
Sze formerly ran nightclubs in Seattle. A 1992 incident in which gunfire was sprayed inside and outside one club led to the city's adoption of an ordinance that permitted police to shut down any club with repeated incidents of illegal drinking, fights or loud noise.
Sze bought the 5-acre Highway 99 site in Mountlake Terrace for $1.5 million in June from a group of investors who had planned to put a drugstore there.
Plans for the proposed Red Dragon casino show a large, upscale building with a grand staircase and balcony overlooking the casino floor. Access to the casino would be from both 220th and Highway 99, and a parking lot is planned for the east side of the site.
Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com