Photo used under a Creative Commons license with Tiger Girl.

Two councilmembers want to repeal a law that would allow internet gambling in the District, kicking off what may be a contentious battle over a controversial initiative.

Councilmembers Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) will introduce legislation at a D.C. Council session today that would repeal and prohibit the iGaming measure surreptitiously slipped into a budget bill late last year, provoking complaints over the security and wisdom of the idea. Concerns related to how the measure was introduced and the lack of public debate forced the D.C. Lottery Commission to postpone public hearings that were scheduled for August and caused Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) to ask the D.C. Inspector General to look into the measure.

Councilmember Michael Brown (I-At-Large), who introduced the proposal and has been under fire since, defended himself and the idea in a four-page letter to his colleagues late last week, reports the Post. In the letter, Brown argued that legislation was introduced normally, that it would be safe from hackers, that it wouldn’t prey upon poor residents, that the terminals wouldn’t be located in libraries and recreation centers, and that no conflicts of interest existed between him and his former employer, a lobbying firm that works with online gambling clients.

Brown defended iGaming as a “viable revenue enhancing vehicle to secure our social safety net and balance our budget during a time of fiscal crisis.”