After a number of states have flirted with becoming the “first” state to pass online poker legislation, the District of Columbia –better known as Washington DC—surprised us all by quickly moving a measure through their budget bill that makes the nation’s capital the first jurisdiction to offer its residents intrastate online poker!
The measure was included as part of Washington DC’s 2011 budget, that was passed last month and needed to wait through a 30-day period for objections from Congress, which has come and gone. After having been approved by Congress –by approved I mean not objected to—the bill has now become law, and the District of Columbia is looking towards creating an online poker site by the end of the year.
According to PokerNewsDaily: “The DC Lottery Commission would oversee the established intrastate gaming network and determine what games to offer to its constituents. Preliminary organization has begun for this network, with the Italian company Intralot providing the software and transaction processing operations. Intralot, one of the top gaming organizations in the industry, is a publicly traded company on the Athens Stock Exchange.”
With online poker now officially legal in at least one area of the country my suspicion has always been that this will create a monkey-see monkey-do effect, as more and more states seek to pass their own online poker legislation lest they be left out in the cold. Washington DC’s budget office believes the legalization of online poker will bring in some $14 million over the next three years, and with states struggling to find revenue and eliminate budget deficits, the idea of millions of dollars sitting there for the taking will likely spark a lot of interest.
The bill requires anyone playing on the DC poker site to be located within the District of Columbia while playing, BUT the player can be from anywhere in the country, they simply have to be located within DC’s borders when participating in an online poker game.
So, even though we have the federal government that is located in Washington DC slowing things down to an utter standstill on issues ranging from the budget to online poker, the Washington DC assembly managed to be a trendsetter and is now the only place in the United States that it will be 100% legal to play online poker on both the players’ end and now the provider’s end. Perhaps, the federal government will take a cue from its little brother in the District of Columbia and push through some online poker legislation of their own!
Related Posts
- After Election Losses, PPA Looks to States for Online Poker Legislation - November 11, 2010
- Advocates Look to “Lame Duck” Session to Pass Online Poker Bill - August 10, 2010
- New Jersey State Assembly Passes Online Poker Bill - January 11, 2011
Written by Steve Ruddock on April 14th, 2011
This is ridiculous. You have the law that states that banks can’t handle gaming transactions, but I guess it’s okay if it’s the federal government being our bookie. and being that players want to play at sites with alot of players, it’s funny how the fed just shut down their competition in the form of Pokerstars, Fulltilt and Absolute. I say “just say no to government run gaming sites.” Don’t give these liar, cheats and crooks one dime of your money.