Photo by sandygbandy.

Get ready to gamble, D.C.: a measure allowing the D.C. Lottery to administer online “games of skill and games of chance” — passed by the D.C. Council as part of an adjustment to the fiscal year 2011 budget in December — has now officially made it through the 30-day Congressional review period and will soon be placed on the books.

As we first reported on Sunday, the law will make D.C. the first American jurisdiction to legalize internet gaming. (Take that, New Jersey and Nevada!) All terrible political jokes aside, no one’s really quite sure yet what form the online gaming will take — it could conceivably run the gamut from online poker to sports betting. Mayor Vince Gray told the AP earlier this week that the gambling “would become a part of our lottery program,” but Gray declined to provide any specifics during his weekly press conference this morning. While a spokesperson for D.C. Lottery told the Examiner that no specifics were available and that implementation is “in the early stages of planning,” the Wall Street Journal has reported that the Lottery is eyeing “certain select spots, such as hotels” for a test gaming machine to be conducted “by the end of the year.”

Whatever form it takes, the District is hoping that the law will enable the city to pull in about $13 million in revenue over the next three fiscal years. Intralot, who currently holds the contract to operate the Lottery on the city’s behalf, will be in charge of managing the games. Only D.C. residents would legally be allowed to participate.

Of course, even though Congress didn’t explicitly stamp out the legislation as some predicted, perhaps it didn’t feel like it had to — federal law still technically prohibits online gambling. Just don’t plan on accessing the city’s online poker site on National Park Service property, I suppose.