Washington: 850 Casino Jobs Hang on What Happens in Maverick’s Bankruptcy

Eight casinos across Washington, from Everett to Yakima, could close their doors on November 30, 2026.

Maverick Washington LLC has filed notices with the state saying it plans to shut all eight for good. Together, the notices list 850 workers, according to Washington’s WARN database.

The company has also left the door open. Each notice says Maverick is in bankruptcy and that a new owner or operator could take over a site. If that happens, the closure “may not occur,” or it could come later, Maverick wrote in its notice for Crazy Moose Casino in Pasco.

At a glance

• Who: Maverick Washington LLC, part of the bankrupt Maverick Gaming group
• When: planned closing date of November 30, 2026; the state received the notices on September 28
• Jobs: 850 workers listed across eight casinos
• The caveat: a new owner or operator could stop or delay a closure

Where the casinos are

The head counts in the letters are approximate. Lakewood has the most at stake, with three casinos and 252 listed workers. Two of them, Chips Casino and Palace Casino, share one address on Tacoma Mall Boulevard.

At seven of the eight sites, the letters say some of the affected employees are represented by Teamsters locals. All Star Casino’s letter names no union.

One name appears twice in Maverick’s filings. The Great American Casino in Everett is not the company’s Great American Casino in Tukwila. The Tukwila site and Riverside Casino are due to close November 1 under separate notices filed August 31 that list 238 workers, state records show.

A closure notice, not a closed door

A WARN notice provides advance warning of a planned closure or layoff; it does not mean a business has already shut down. Washington generally requires covered employers to give 60 days’ written notice to the state and affected employees or their union representatives, subject to exceptions, according to state law.

All eight letters, signed by Human Resources Director Christine Wisniewski, carry the same caveat. Maverick “is currently subject to a bankruptcy proceeding,” and “there could be a potential change of operator and/or owner” for the site, the All Star Casino notice says.

The letters do not explain the business reasons for the planned closures. They mention the bankruptcy only when describing a possible change of owner.

Pasco hears talk of a buyer

“The good news from the updated information is that Crazy Moose is changing ownership rather than shutting down,” Pasco City Councilman Leo Perales said, NewsTalk 870 reported. The station reported on September 29 that Maverick had not issued an official statement about the proposed ownership change.

Staff at the casino said much the same. They told the Tri-City Herald they expected Crazy Moose to stay open and said nothing would change. The newspaper said there was no word on Coyote Bobs, Maverick’s smaller casino in nearby Kennewick.

Neither report confirmed a completed sale or established how an ownership change would affect the 137 employees listed in the notice.

How Maverick got here

Maverick Gaming filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2025, Bloomberg reported. The case, in federal bankruptcy court in Texas, covers nearly 70 Maverick entities, including Maverick Washington LLC, the Tri-City Herald reported.

In court documents, the company blamed its debt as well as “significant competition from tribal casinos in their key Washington market,” the newspaper said.

This is not Maverick’s first round of Washington closures. It has already closed or announced closures at other card rooms in the state this year, Casino.org reported. Palace Casino was supposed to close in 2025, but it stayed open and is now back on the list, the site said.

Watching for updated notices

Maverick said in its letters that it would send updated information if a site moves to a new owner or operator. Those updates, and the bankruptcy case, will decide which of the eight casinos close and how many of the 850 workers lose their jobs.

Featured image: An empty blackjack table on a casino floor. Illustrative image; not a Maverick property. Photo: DanielPenfield / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)