Bets Are On: Internet Gambling Coming to D.C.

Internet gambling will soon become permissible in the District of Columbia.

April 14, 2011

WASHINGTON - Internet gambling will soon become permissible in the District of Columbia ?" the first U.S. jurisdiction to allow online gaming, the Associated Press reports.

District officials are uncertain when gaming would commence, but D.C. lottery officials said they were in talks with their vendor and expect more details in the coming weeks.

The gaming is set to be operated by Intralot and would be available only to gamblers within borders of the District. While states have contemplated legalizing online poker, the District would be the first jurisdiction to actually do it.

While a 2006 federal law bans Internet gambling, prohibiting banks and credit card companies from processing payments, other details of the law are "murky," with enough uncertainty to allow D.C. to wade into the venture.

"There was really no clear law that said we could not do this," said D.C. Council Member Michael A. Brown, adding the hope is to generate revenue to offset budget cuts while helping social services programs.

The D.C.??s chief financial officer estimated Internet gambling could generate up to $14 million through fiscal year 2014.

"Anytime you??re cutting budgets and you want to save some programs, you??re looking for different pieces from different pots and you hope that you get to the number that restores those budget shortfalls and that??s what we??re trying to do with this," Brown said.

Others remain skeptical of the revenue estimate, maintaining players are unlikely to migrate from their favorite site to a new one operated by the District.

"Players are really loyal in this industry," said Jeff Ifrah, a lawyer specializing in online gaming companies. "You really have to ask yourself what is the incentive a player is going to have to leave a trusted site with global competition to play in a site that??s untested and kind of unknown and doesn??t offer you the same level of play."

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