WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia is becoming the first U.S. jurisdiction to allow Internet gambling, trying to raise millions of dollars from the habits of online poker buffs and acting ahead of traditional gambling meccas like New Jersey and Nevada.
Permitting the online games was part of the 2011 budget and a 30-day period for Congress to object expired last week, said D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown, who authored the provision. The gaming would be operated by Intralot, a Greece-based company, and would be available only to gamblers making bets within the borders of the district.
Officials were not sure when the gaming would be up and running, though DC lottery officials said they were in talks with their vendor and expect to know more within weeks. Though other states have contemplated legalizing online poker, experts said the district would be the first jurisdiction in the country to do it.
The move to legalize the games comes despite a 2006 federal law effectively banned Internet gambling. The law prohibited banks and credit card companies from processing payments to gambling websites in states where such transactions would violate the law of the state. But gambling experts say the law created gray areas that open the door for an expansion into the multibillion-dollar industry.
"There was really no clear law that said we could not do this," Brown said Wednesday.
D.C. hopes to tap those millions to help offset budget cuts and help social services programs, Brown said. Conservative estimates from D.C.'s chief financial officer indicate the district could bring in around $13 million to $14 million through fiscal year 2014, according to his office.
The gambling green light is no doubt good news to poker players, but D.C. would be authorized to offer other games of both skill and chance. It would be up to lottery officials to come up with regulations and decide which games to permit.
"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.
Jeff Ifrah, a lawyer who represents online poker companies, said he was dubious about any revenue estimates since they naturally assume that online poker players will migrate from their favorite site to a new one endorsed by a state.
"Players are really loyal in this industry," Ifrah said. "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."
Online poker games generally allow computer users to deposit money into an account and place wagers against other players similar to real gambling.
Efforts to legalize Internet gambling have stalled elsewhere this year, including in New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a measure partly out of concern that bars, nightclubs and amusement parks would add online gaming to attract more customers. A bill in Hawaii died in the Legislature and another one in Iowa is unlikely to move forward in its current form. In Nevada, lawmakers have been debating proposals to require state gambling regulators to create rules for Internet poker operations and companies that make related equipment.
David Schwartz, director of the UNLV Center for Gaming Research, said he thought states were waiting for clearer federal guidance before proceeding with Internet gambling proposals.
"There's a lot of ambiguity at the federal level," he said. "A lot of people are waiting for some sort of federal legislation that would create a regulatory structure."
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department, which has traditionally viewed Internet gambling as illegal, declined to comment Tuesday.
Mayor Vincent Gray said Wednesday he didn't know how far along the process was but added, "Assuming it's implemented it would become a part of our lottery program and could generate additional resources for the District of Columbia as we continue to support ourselves."
YES!!! Finally!
We got the foot in the door.
WTG....DC
yep.
it should of never been taken away in the first place
am also sicken only "lotterys" and their choice of vender" have a sole monopoly over online betting.
govt takes away gambleing then force feeds it back, saying, we are only one you can bet with, Thats just abuse of power
i think we should be allowed to gamble however and with whoever we wish online.
thro dc will get added income so whatever works for you people without a state is your own thing
i remb a powerball winner from D.C no taxes at the time would be taxed form lottery winnings
retroactive tax on all lottery winnings for that tax year, Just to steal more of jackpot prize for them self's
these evil beeps am not shocked they think they can also force everyone to just "gamble" with their online site only
what a load of crap
Why cant we do what we want with our own money? If I wanted to play numbers in Georgia I should be able to.You cant get a hit here....If it ever comes to that she would change things in Nashville....everyone in this country would play Georgia.
Between the federal deficits, the trade deficits, outsourcing all the manufacturing and production jobs to countries with cheaper labor and unemployment soaring all over the US the feds and the trickle down from the shrinking federal assistance to states is bound to lead to finding money anywhere it can, fed, state and local. Catching some of the multi-billion online gambling money and pouring it into the coffers beats feeding it to the dark underside-types who are behind all that online casino garden of weeds cashing in on the web.
And if jackpot winners pay higher taxes on the winnings it's at least painless for the rest of us. Those who don't win and will never win jackpots.
If the states can get voluntary money from gamblers of any sort instead of having to pry it out by taxation fiat from all the unemployed and about to be unemployed to keep the infrastructure intact, the roads maintained, the water and sewer systems working, the public libraries open and the schools babysitting the kids daytimes it seems a win/win to me.
As long as jackpot winners have enough winnings left to have given them incentives for buying the tickets that won what's the difference of a few million they didn't get? Only seven Mercedes instead of 15? Only six houses instead of a dozen?
"As long as jackpot winners have enough winnings left to have given them incentives for buying the tickets that won what's the difference of a few million they didn't get? Only seven Mercedes instead of 15? Only six houses instead of a dozen?"
That's exactly the kind of pass-the-buck rationale I would like to avoid as it applies to revenue enhancement. I think the costs of government and it's expenses should be borne equally by everyone. That's when we'll get reform - when everybody has to pay the piper through-the-nose for government's out of control spending.
As a smoker in TN (now ex-smoker) the burden for educating our youth was placed increasingly in my lap because it was the easy thing to do. Instead of raising taxes on everybody, they just raised taxes on smokers when they wanted more money for education, because afterall who likes smokers anyway? Let them pay for it. The majority was in favor of it because the majority doesn't smoke. And I was the whipping boy. They wouldn't allow me to smoke anywhere near humanity but they were glad to let me pay to educate their children. How convenient.
I resented that and I resent any qualifying or quantifying by government when it comes to allocating a tax burden based on what they think you should have, do or need. It's none of their business what people do with their legally obtained money.
They don't need to take more money from jackpot winners.
They need to stop spending like drunken sailors.
They've been spending like drunken sailors, the political party that calls itself two parties, as long as you and I have been alive. They aren't going to quit in the areas where they can enrich themselves or enable their friends to enrich themselves, though they appear to be willing enough to let the infrastructure slowly die while they keep the eyes of the public anywhere but at the sources of enrichment.
That's not going to change. All the money required to keep the lower priorities such as the essentials required to keep things running has to come from somewhere. Like it or not, that's the reality. At least the overwhelming flow of money coming from lottery operations goes to the states as opposed to the feds. And every penny spent on gambling is voluntary, as opposed to having IRS prying it out of the hands of whatever people in this country are still working for someone besides the government.
Those roads have to be maintained to keep the trucks full of groceries delivering it where consumers can get it. If more of it comes out of the pockets of jackpot winners instead of out of the pockets of people loading and unloading trucks full of groceries it doesn't have to be fair for the guy unloading groceries to be glad he has a few dollars left for buying groceries and lottery tickets if that's how he chooses to spend it.
Wishing Washington wasn't what it is and what it's been longer than you and I can remember isn't going to make anything fair. They are going to keep getting rich and keep their eyes turned where they get richest. Nobody ever said it was going to be fair, it isn't, and it isn't going to be by changing the faces where the river of money flows. It doesn't even change the lakes it flows into.
But the money to pay to keep the pavement patched has to come from somewhere and if jackpot winner pay more than the guys driving the trucks maybe there's at least consolation to be found in the fact jackpot winners aren't worrying about gas prices and the rent and daycare.
We're in agreement except for one issue - the main one.
Yes of course, nobody ever said life was going to be fair but in government of, by and for the people, that in itself should be a goal, if not intrinsic to the system. We all benefit from government maintenance of infrastructure and what-have-you and we should all pay for it equally.
The reason I feel strongly about this is because it's a slippery slope. Someone has to decide which one of us pays. Do you think for a moment Congress would choose themselves or their lobbyists or their own friends to be among those who are chosen to pay? Not a chance. They'll exclude themselves and their friends just like they did with Obamacare. And everyone who doesn't have to pay will be in favor of whoever the government picks to pay as long as it's not them. It's a corrupt system at it's core but it makes the majority happy. But might it be you that gets chosen to pay next time?
This sounds like a certain party's class warfare, redistribution of wealth scheme to me.
Well I'm not in that camp that believes the rich are evil because they're rich and should be punished for it. And I don't believe in finding new and obscure ways to come up with money to make it easier for them to maintain their insane spending sprees and the lifestyles to which they have become accustomed.
It is not their job to decide how much money anybody should be allowed to have before they confiscate it.
Period.
I hope Indiana's next!
They always pretend to be so moral and put of a fake fight....then they give in as if they were not going to do it anyway. Believe online gambling and slots are coming to Maryland and we won't have to go to "Charleston" LOL...REALLY!
its rather simple and fair way to fund a govt and Keep them in check
make it funded by donations only
soon as any level fo govt, like what DC now says, you can only play online betting games form us, the donations would stop
they would work for us, and not agiant us.
why should i be forced to support other people, Its Wrong, its the must evil method by majority rule ever invented by humans "taxs" and its time it dies.
in united states, i feel like majority of you really think am some kind of Slave for you.
, and you just think your letting me keep a part of "your" money, so am more active in trying to gain new money for you
for must dems its about how much of "your" money should i get to keep, to make sure i keep making you more money
the belief i owe any human alive on plant earth a part of My money, , not yours , Mine.
suggesting otherwise is insane, its subjecting a belief am a your slave somehow . why pretending am free to my face.
actions speak louder then words, and i know that for all your talk for freedom, your all for talk liberty , ever single person for tax's are for total and 100% evil inslavement of human kind to support what you want thro brutal force if talking does not work.
all the dems and majority of reps are lieing about diet cuts,
we have 14 trillion in diet today, ever year its projected to go up by trillions More each Year
when they talk today of where trying to pass cuts in the billions, let alone trillions amount their talking about instand of say 2 trillion added diet, we cut 1 trillion we planed to have added to the diet out of 2 trillion we planned before.
they leave out the part their sure adding a trillion to the diet here and their!
its all Fake, all a clever story to make them Look like their cutting when their inslaveing us all to pay for this massive amount of money their chargin to their unlimited credit card with fed reserve.
if the govt was a person, its like telling everyone , ya i cut trillions form what i plan to need to spend in upcoming years only to find out, they mean instand of needing 40 trillion in next 10 years added to the diet, they only say need 20 trillion added to the diet total!
wtf is wrong with you people , wake UP to reality, your broke. stop getting even more into debt.
first off, ever thing you enjoy needs to be cut and stoped, you need to 100% diet of pure money related diet , that fruit cut , that freaking candy, and ice cream, it has to Stop, and stop Right freaking Now.
, have a diet of 0, nonething, once you have Money and 0 diet, then we can talk about all that darn spending you want. when we have money
then you can be giving people free stuff.
the fact is everyone needs to understand something, the free ride is coming to a end, all you people who support tax's are just telling the govt its alright.
don't worry, our kids and their grand kids and their great grand kids will pay for everthing now where chargin on our unlimited credit balance with feds
where by the way we just print money out of thin air like careless idiots always does
you people who vote these spend happy freaks in we have today, need to wake up, i don't plan to have kids
just so they can pay for your free ride today, i refuse to teach them their slaves for rest of their lifes for your Rackless spending and getting in massive diet and its okay to pass the bill at gun point to someone else.
do you know even todays kids, by learning form their parents lead , are growing up to think its alright to demand stuff form the govt, the govt is just other people who take money form others
its not alright to take other's people money who did not offer it.
if govt was a person, as a person i would say they are the must retarded person alive when it comes to Money issue's, they are insane, and not of this reality
if the govt was a person, they be labeled a theft, the biggest crime mastermind on earth and the biggest jerk on earth too
Josuacloak: I assume your remarks are directed to me in response to my earlier posts, though I'm not a dem. Not a rep, either.
I don't recall ever having any free ride, but most of my life was spent in a country where there were jobs to be had for anyone who wanted to work, and I always did.
But that country went somewhere else, thanks to multi-national corporations, cheap labor in third world countries, a legion of career government workers and career elected officials, a microscopic percentage of the people control 90% of the wealth and savor their own interests above those of the country, and an education system turning out generations of young people barely able to read and write, such as yourself.
"if the govt was a person, they be labelled a theft, the biggest crime mastermind on earth and the biggest jerk on earth too" is an accurate statement. That government is you. That government is me. That government is the sword carrier for all the ideas and beliefs you've expressed in your post.
In God we trust ought to be replaced on the currency with something more honest. Every man for himself.
I couldn't care less whether lottery jackpot winners are taxed more. I actually couldn't care less whether you, personally are taxed more. But you've probably got a lot of years of life ahead of you, and I probably don't. I expect I've enjoyed mine a lot more than you'll ever get the chance to enjoy yours, but you'll get what you asked for in all likelihood. Nobody is lying about the debt. The Chinese own it and they own your grandchildren.