Yakima County, WA Gambling & Gaming: Card Room Licensing (2026)
Key Facts
- School/church/park buffer
- 500 feet
- Social card game tax rate
- 10% of gross receipts
- Tax authority
- YCC Chapter 3.16
- State license required
- Washington State Gambling Commission
- Tax filing frequency
- Quarterly
- Late payment penalty
- 10% or $25, escalating
Summary
Yakima County allows social card rooms only in zones that already permit them and never within 500 feet of a school, church, or park. County Code § 19.18.430 sets that buffer, while Chapter 3.16 taxes gross receipts from social card games at ten percent, paid quarterly to the county treasurer.
§ 19.18.430: In zones where allowed, no social card room shall be permitted within 500 feet of any public school, private school (meeting the requirements for private schools under Title 28A RCW, church or park, as measured according to RCW 66.24.010(9)) or as the same may be hereafter amended. § 3.16.020(5): On social card games in the amount of the gross receipts received therefrom multiplied by the rate of ten percent. § 3.16.060: ...there shall be added to the amount due a penalty fee as follows: (1) For payments not received on or before the final day of the month following the end of the quarterly period in which the tax accrued, ten percent of the accrued tax or twenty-five dollars, whichever is greater; (2) ...an additional five percent of the accrued tax or twenty-five dollars, whichever is greater;
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4871853; v6 updated 2026-04-21; through 04-21-2026).
Full Breakdown
Section 19.18.430 governs where a social card room, defined in § 19.01.070 as a commercial facility where house-banked social card games or other Gambling Commission-authorized activities take place, can locate in unincorporated Yakima County. The section only allows a social card room in zones where the use is already listed as allowed on the zoning table, and even there it bars any social card room within 500 feet of a public school, a private school meeting Title 28A RCW requirements, a church, or a park, with that distance measured according to RCW 66.24.010(9).
Beyond the zoning buffer, Yakima County taxes the gambling activity itself under Chapter 3.16: § 3.16.020(5) levies a ten percent tax on the gross receipts a licensed operator receives from social card games, on top of similar ten percent taxes on punch boards, pull-tabs, and bingo, and a two percent tax on amusement games. Every operator must hold a license from the Washington State Gambling Commission before conducting any card room activity, and § 3.16.040 makes the county treasurer responsible for administering and collecting the tax, with returns due quarterly and a copy of the operator's Gambling Commission report attached to each remittance.
Card rooms located in any zoning district must still separately satisfy the zoning table's review type and the 500-foot buffer before the treasurer will even accept a gambling tax registration, since § 3.16.030 requires operators to file a sworn declaration of intent to conduct a taxable activity at least ten days before starting.
Violations & Fines
Late tax payments draw escalating penalties under § 3.16.060: ten percent of the accrued tax or $25, whichever is greater, for payments received after the end of the month following the quarter, with an additional five percent or $25 added if payment is still late by the fifteenth of the following month. Operating a social card room within the 500-foot buffer, or in a zone that does not list the use, is a zoning violation enforceable as a Class I Civil Infraction under § 21.04.030, and gambling tax delinquencies carry a lien on the operator's debt to the county.
Frequently Asked Questions
How close can a social card room be to a school in Yakima County?
Does Yakima County tax card room revenue?
What happens if a card room pays its gambling tax late?
Can a social card room open in any zoning district?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Yakima County
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