Internet gambling now allowed in District of Columbia

Internet Gambling Allowed in DC

Internet gambling is now legal in the District of Columbia even if a federal law passed in 2006 prohibits payments between gambling companies and individuals.

DC area gamblers will first have online poker available to them but lottery officials will later add more Internet gambling games.

The district is the first in the United States to permit online gambling ahead of New Jersey and Nevada. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a similar Internet gambling measure earlier while Nevada has a pending bill that would require Congressional or DOJ approval before it can be implemented.

Gambling experts said that the present federal law banning  online gambling has some loopholes which allowed DC to formulate a measure to tap into the multibillion dollar industry.

Other states are adopting a wait-and-see approach until clearer guidelines are provided by the government and other states implement their own Internet gambling laws.

There is not definite date for the start of the online gaming in DC, but it will be operated by Greek company Intralot.

Earnings from Internet gambling will make up for deep budget cuts and will be used to fund social services according to DC Council member Michael A. Brown.

"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 about the council's reasoning behind the approval.

DC Mayor Vincent Gray said he is hopeful that the jurisdiction's lottery program, a major source of funding, will soon add Internet gambling.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Tuesday April 12 2011, 10:41 PM EDT. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0