The Lakewood City Council adopts a new moratorium on card rooms as the city prepares to ask the Legislature for more flexibility in regulating minicasinos. The future of minicasinos in Lakewood is coming up again in Lakewood, two months after city voters said they didn’t want card rooms banned.

By a 5-2 vote Monday night, the City Council adopted a six-month moratorium on building or expanding minicasinos.

This round, however, might have more to do with sending a message to gambling developers: We’re banning you temporarily now, and might ban you permanently later – if the state lets us.

Lakewood officials want to retain the four minicasinos now operating in the city, but not allow any others. They said they had to enact a moratorium Monday night before any card room owner applies for construction.

Mayor Doug Richardson, who was in Maryland, phoned in to the meeting to propose the action and cast his vote.

Officials say they’ve heard rumors of minicasino owners planning to build, but the city hadn’t received any applications as of Tuesday.

The move takes the city back to a regulatory tactic it used for 27 straight months until early last year: a moratorium that blocks new card rooms from opening.

That approach violates the state’s all-or-nothing gambling rules, which say cities can either allow all minicasinos or none.

But Lakewood is asking the Legislature this year to give local governments more autonomy and flexibility in regulating the gambling industry. The bill has the support of the Association of Washington Cities.

Last March, the city changed its approach and adopted zoning controls instead of a moratorium. New eating and drinking establishments of more than 10,000 square feet – the criteria needed to run a profitable minicasino – were restricted to certain commercial areas along Interstate 5.

City Attorney Heidi Wachter said the selective zoning restrictions have been an effective tool. But Mayor Richardson said they confused residents and didn’t deliver a strong enough message to gambling interests.

They were also used against the city when supporters of a proposed ban on minicasinos campaigned for the November general election, said City Manager Andrew Neiditz.

Councilman Pad Finnigan was one of the two “no” votes Monday. He said the selective zoning is enough, and that market conditions will determine whether minicasinos survive.

The industry “is going to regulate itself,” he said.

Councilwoman Helen McGovern, the other dissenter, questioned why Monday’s meeting was the first time the City Council discussed the moratorium, and yet city leaders were being asked to vote that same night.

She questioned the city’s commitment to open government, given the lack of a public hearing.

State law requires cities to hold a hearing within 60 days after enacting the moratorium, which went into effect Monday night. City leaders can drop the moratorium if they feel the public wants to go a different direction, Wachter said.

A public hearing on the minicasino moratorium is scheduled Feb. 17.

Brent Champaco: 253-597-8653