It may be the final hand for two Tri-City cardrooms and that could put more than 200 people out of work.

Maverick Gaming, the company that owns Crazy Moose Casino in Pasco and Kennewick’s Coyote Bob’s Roadhouse Casino, has filed letters with the state Employment Security Department announcing its intent to close the casinos and six others by Nov. 30, though that could be avoided.

“Maverick Washington LLC is currently subject to a bankruptcy proceeding and, as part of that proceeding, there could be a potential change of operator and/or owner for the site,” the company said in one of its letters to the state. “If the (casino) is transitioned to a new owner/operator, the above-referenced closure may not occur, or alternatively, the closure could be delayed.”

Crazy Moose employs 137 people and Coyote Bob’s has 68 employees, with roles ranging from table dealers and cage counters to management and kitchen staff.

Staff at both casinos are represented by Teamsters Local No. 839.

Russell Shjerven, the local union’s secretary-treasurer, said he is still gathering information about what may come to pass but the impact to his union members is real regardless.

“My concern is their ability to find work because how many other cardrooms are there in the Tri-Cities?” he told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

Declaring bankruptcy

Maverick filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection more than a year ago. The company, whose CEO is poker player and Washington state native Eric Persson, bought Coyote Bob’s and Crazy Moose in 2019 from Washington Gold.

In Maverick’s bankruptcy filing, its largest debt is to Project Evergreen WA LLC for $7.4 million in unpaid rent. Maverick sold its Tri-City facilities to Project Evergreen in 2022 and then leased them back to continue operations.

The company estimated it had assets and liabilities of between $100 million to $500 million and added that the restructuring could result in the sale of properties.

Shrinking operations

At the time of the bankruptcy filing, Maverick had 15 cardrooms across the state with 2,900 employees.

Those operations have been winnowed down ever since. Prior to the recent announcement, which will cut 850 employees loose if those properties aren’t sold, Maverick closed five other operations this year, laying off more than 400 people in the process.

The company recently updated its website, showing it only operates four cardrooms: Ace’s Poker Lakewood, Ace’s Poker Mountlake Terrace and Caribbean Cardroom and Caribbean Casino in Kirkland.

In 2022, state financial statements indicated that Crazy Moose had net income of $2.5 million over its expenses, and Coyote Bob’s had nearly $1.6 million in net income.

By 2023, Coyote Bob’s net income was $93,000 and Crazy Moose had a loss of $526,000. This was the result of hundreds of thousands of dollars in lower revenue as well as more than $2 million in increased expenses for the two locations.

Financial statements from 2024 showed some improvement for the casinos, with Coyote Bob’s recording net income of $302,000 and Crazy Moose cutting its losses to $421,000. In the first quarter of 2025, Crazy Moose had gambling receipts of nearly $231,000 and Coyote Bob’s $108,000.