WA approves axe-throwing for businesses with liquor licenses

The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) voted Wednesday to allow businesses with liquor licenses to offer axe throwing as an activity to their customers.

The licensing division says it has been receiving applications from businesses that either had axe throwing as their primary activity and wanted to add liquor or from established liquor-licensed businesses that wanted to add axe throwing since 2018.

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“Axe throwing has become increasingly popular as an activity that businesses would like to offer in combination with liquor service,” said LCB Policy and Rulemaking Coordinator Audrey Vasek. “And beginning in 2018, the licensing division began receiving applications from businesses that either had axe throwing as their primary activity and wanted to add liquor, or from established liquor license businesses that wanted to add axe throwing.”

In April 2021, the board approved an agreement with an individual axe-throwing business that allowed them to have a liquor license for one year under a pilot program with safety parameters in place.

“They ran the pilot program for an axe-throwing business that wanted to add the alcohol and that seems to have gone okay,”  Hanna Scott, a KIRO Newsradio reporter said. “So that led to what we’re talking about today, which is that places that have a bar or have a liquor license, they can now apply to get the permission to do axe throwing as well. They have to apply. You can’t just do this when this takes effect, because there are rules that you have to follow that they’ve come up with, and that’s what the vote was on yesterday.”

Following a public comment period, the board developed rules that would require liquor-licensed establishments that offer axe throwing to create a safety operating plan for their businesses.

These safety plans would require businesses to have protocols for monitoring patrons’ intoxication and consumption of alcohol, as well as floor plans that designate consumption areas where alcohol is allowed, with barriers separating them from axe-throwing areas.

“So it’s like a safety zone because you don’t want to go to be too close to where someone’s just sitting and can accidentally be hit,” Scott said. “So that sounds like what they’re doing. They approved that yesterday, this will go into effect next month when you can start applying for these special licenses and start doing this.”

The licensing division is currently working to create a template for the safety operating plans and application instructions for businesses.

Businesses with liquor licenses will be allowed to apply to offer axe throwing by July 9, when the rules approved by the board are scheduled to go into effect.

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