Photo by Images_of_Money

It seems that Internet gambling in the District is going back to the drawing board.

Today a D.C. Council committee will vote today on whether to send a repeal bill sponsored by Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) to the full council, where it is likely to pass. According to the Post, Mayor Vince Gray backs the repeal, and the AP’s Ben Nuckols tweeted that the seven votes are there to approve the repeal once it gets to the full council. (According to the Post’s Mike DeBonis, there are nine likely yes votes on the council for repeal.)

The Internet gambling provision, which would be the first of its kind in the country, was inserted into a larger 2010 budget bill, prompting complaints from residents and activists that no hearings had been held on the program. At a hearing last week, councilmembers sparred with the D.C. CFO over whether or not they even knew that a 2009 lottery contract had been amended to allow Internet gambling.

According to the AP, Councilmember Michael Brown (I-At Large), Internet gambling’s sponsor and most prominent proponent, has said that he’ll introduce a stand-alone bill to move the program along. According to him, his colleagues have no objection to Internet gambling as is, and only expressed concerns over the process it went through to become law.