Photo by SweetJen34A perfect storm of circumstances seem to be coming together, clearing a path and raising hopes for online gambling to appear in D.C.
D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown tweeted Wednesday that a date has been set for the Finance and Revenue Committee to hold a hearing on June 29 pertaining to “DC Lottery’s plans to offer online games.” The hearing stems from an stealthy amendment to a supplemental budget bill that passed the council in April this year, which allows the D.C. Lottery to provide online gambling services withing District limits. Albeit the amendment was surreptitiously slipped into the bill, Congress seemed to let the 30-day waiting period to come and go with nary a peep.
And now with the after effects of Black Friday, the day when the federal government shut down several U.S. online poker sites in April, still reverberates in the minds of poker room rats, national interest has bubbled up over whether D.C. will become a haven.
“It should have a positive effect for us because now those people who did play those games can come to D.C. and have consumer protections and regulation. I think a lot of folks who play poker as a full-time job will probably consider moving to the District,” said Brown in an interview with Poker News. Maybe not the best argument, now that community pillars will start imagining seedy gamblers and pawn shops populating, and perhaps ransacking, the city.
For now, one immediate hurdle has popped up in the legislation’s path: speculation of unethical behavior by Brown for pushing through the amendment despite failing to disclose an association with Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, whose clients include lottery, casino and gaming vendors.
