Senator John McCain, who is eager for Congress to approve action, must be confident in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s efforts to round up enough votes—’cause he was seen playing poker on his iPhone.

If you’re an avid online poker player and are just waiting for the District to flip the switch on its planned first-in-the-nation Internet gambling program, you might be waiting for a while.

No, really, officials from the D.C. Lottery now say they are finally ready to answer your questions about the intranet gaming system which the D.C. Council quietly and controversially approved earlier this year.

* And of course, by a “large majority of people,” I mean “a large majority of Washington Times readers — a sizable number of which are people who were encouraged to stuff the ballot by people who don’t live in the District of Columbia, but really like playing online poker — approve of legalizing online poker.”

Photo by Images_of_Money Three D.C. Council members have declared their intent to re-examine the $38 million D.C. Lottery contract to launch online poker in the District. Their announcement comes after the Washington Times found that a July 2010 request by two former D.C. Cabinet officials to Inspector General Charles J. Willoughby to investigate the contract was met with inaction. Much of the consternation stems from the lack of public vetting of the bidding process…

D.C. residents angry about the lack of public input involved in the legalization of online gaming will have to wait longer to publicly vent such frustrations — the D.C. Lottery and city officials will postpone a slate of ward-by-ward meetings in an effort to “reach the largest number of D.C. residents.”

Curious about the intranet gaming system that the D.C. Council quietly approved earlier this year? Officials from the D.C. Lottery are now ready to answer your questions.

A 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.