Lacey City Council adopts ordinance repealing social card game ban

Social card game establishments are now permitted in the City of Lacey after the city council unanimously voted to repeal a ban. 

Ordinance 1699, which the Lacey City Council adopted at its meeting on Tuesday, March 17, removes Chapter 5.06 from the Lacey Municipal Code. 

The chapter prohibited social card games since its codification under Ordinance 1120 in 1999. The ban included limited exceptions, with a 2001 amendment under Ordinance 1160 preserving vested rights for establishments operating at the time of passage. 

Revenue strategy 

The repeal is part of the city's revenue enhancement strategy to address an ongoing budget imbalance. 

Expenditures have continued to outpace revenues, with the city turning to reserves to fund recurring costs in 2025 and 2026, a practice the ordinance described as fiscally unsustainable over the long term. 

Assistant City Manager Shannon Kelley-Fong brought the item before the council, noting the proposal had been in development since August 2025, when the city began a comprehensive review of select revenue options. 

As previously reported by The JOLT, the council in January 2026 directed staff to draft the repeal ordinance and evaluate social card game and pull-tab tax policies. 

No immediate revenue gains are expected from the policy change, according to a staff report. Lacey currently imposes a 7.5 percent tax on social card games, with any future revenue directed to the general fund. 

The council discussed the possibility of gradually increasing the rate to 10 percent, the level at which it stood before it was previously reduced, but did not direct staff to pursue that change. 

According to Washington State Gambling Commission data, the number of licensed house-banked card rooms in Washington declined to 41 in 2024 from 43 in 2019.

The figures suggest the statewide market has remained relatively stable. House-banked refers to establishments that serve as the bank in card game operations. 

Zoning concerns 

The vote, however, left open questions about how such establishments would be regulated going forward. 

Council member Nicolas Dunning noted stronger-than-anticipated public feedback on the proposal. Only a very small amount of information had reached people who could be interested, he said, making the level of response telling. 

Deputy Mayor Malcolm Miller raised questions about the number and location of future card rooms, expressing concern about potential concentration in areas, such as northeast and midtown Lacey. He noted the city has no zoning regulations in place to govern the activity. 

Miller said the questions of how many card rooms to permit and where to locate them would be taken up at a future work session. 

Pull-tab taxation 

Staff also corrected earlier pull-tab tax information, clarifying that state law distinguishes between gross and net receipts. Gross receipts refer to the total amount taken in from selling tabs, while net receipts refer to what remains after prices and costs are deducted. 

The maximum allowable rate is 5 percent of gross receipts or 10 percent of net receipts. Lacey currently taxes pull-tabs at 4 percent of gross receipts, below the state maximum. Staff recommended against switching to a net receipts basis, noting that net receipts often fall below 50 percent of gross receipts for most operators. 

The council could increase the current rate by up to 1 percentage point, with each 0.5 percent increase projected to generate approximately $5,000 in additional annual revenue.