Pierce County casino closing as its operator files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
.jpg "An LLC representing Maverick Gaming on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Texas court.")
A Lakewood casino is among four sites to be shuttered by a local gaming chain that operates sites in three Western states.
Kirkland-based Maverick Gaming on its website announced the closures of Palace Casino in Lakewood (8200 Tacoma Mall Blvd.), Dragon Tiger Casino in Mountlake, Silver Dollar Renton, and Roman Casino in Seattle.
Maverick operates sites in Washington, Nevada and Colorado, owning-operating 17 card rooms in Washington and several casino hotels in Nevada and Colorado, according to court filings.
Its website lists three other Maverick sites in the Lakewood area in addition to the Palace Casino. In 2022, it entered into a sale-leaseback agreement for its Macau Casino, 9811 South Tacoma Way, part of a larger deal to raise funds for the company.
On Monday, an LLC representing various Maverick entities filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
A declaration filed by Jeff Seery, chief restructuring officer, cited “significant competition from tribal casinos in their key Washington market, operational misalignments, and industry headwinds,” as reasons behind the bankruptcy.
The filing mentioned the earlier sale-leaseback program and stated it had sold the Macau and four other casinos in the state for a total of approximately $110.3 million to what is now Blue Owl Capital, followed by entering into sale-leasebacks of the properties.
It later entered into further sale-leaseback arrangements with Blue Owl at other sites, the filing added.
The filing noted that “as a result of liquidity challenges, the Debtors have not funded rent payments to Blue Owl since April 2025.”
Maverick has faced increasing pressures from “their significant debt service obligations,” the filing noted, adding that the company hoped “to undergo a financial reorganization and reestablish themselves as a healthy economic enterprise able to effectively compete in their industry.”
The company reported liabilities and assets between $100 million and $500 million, according to the filings.
Maverick, in its website posting about the closures, said the decision to close “follows the Washington (Gambling) Commissioners’ choice to shut down the centralized surveillance petition, which was intended to support Washington Cardrooms.”
“In the decision considerations, the gaming board compared Washington cardroom casinos (15 tables) to mega casinos that attract higher volumes of traffic, impacting our operations,” the statement added. “The lack of centralized and advanced surveillance technology, in contrast to what is available in larger establishments, has further hindered our ability to compete effectively.”
According to minutes from the commission’s Jan. 13, 2022 meeting, Maverick sought the centralized surveillance “to allow for the ability to monitor card room gambling activity from one card room to a centralized surveillance room.”
The minutes noted, “The petitioner feels this change is needed because the ability to have staff in a central location allows for the surveillance observers to be under experienced surveillance management that can provide consistent training.”
Maverick’s representative at the meeting noted that given the level of staff turnover in the industry, centralizing surveillance could help in retaining staff “by hiring more qualified personnel,” according to the meeting notes.
The commission in January 2025 voted 3-2 to deny the petition to allow rulemaking on centralized surveillance for house-banked cardrooms.
Maverick was launched in 2017 by former Las Vegas Sands executives Eric Persson and Justin Beltram, with the goal of acquiring undervalued properties “and implementing operational changes to improve profitability,” according to Seery’s court filing.
