News

Tuesday, 10 May 2011 00:37

Where other states have tried and so far failed to instigate a system of legalised intrastate online gambling, it appears that Washington DC may actually achieve it first.

Washington D.C, the capital city of the United States of America, where laws are made and the seat of power is located, is also a district in its own right. This is the District of Columbia. Citizens of this district are partly self-governed by a local council which is headed by an elected Mayor. All of this is separate and distinct from Federal Government, which by a stroke of historical planning just happens to occupy a physically location in the same part of the country. Citizens pay taxes to their local city council and that council has a budget, can pass laws and generally act as a mini-state in its own right. The only downside is that federal congress can over-rule anything that the local district council does if it feels the need to.

You just have to love the sense of irony that the latest scheme has stirred up here.

While the Federal Government staunchly opposes any form of online gambling and has passed laws to prevent it from being carried out by U.S. citizens, the District of Columbia has put into action a plan to include a legalised online poker section within its own, already very lucrative lottery system. It expects the online poker side of the scheme to bring in an additional $13million worth of revenue over the first three years of its existence.

The catch is that to get involved in playing the online poker games, citizens have to physically be within the borders of the District. The council has been assured by Internet experts that the games can be installed so that only computers located within the district can access them.

This has already been tried in other states and most notably in New Jersey. There, a bill to legalise online gambling within the state was passed by its own legislature, but its passage into law was ultimately vetoed by the governor.

Opponents of the scheme in D.C. may be sitting comfortably in the knowledge that the Federal Government also has the power to veto the online poker scheme proposed for the district. Just like they can and often do interfere with local politics and meddle in the running of the district. There is just one problem with that and it probably has much to do with the fact that the mighty government has been so busy with other, more pressing or important issues. The deadline for Congress to block the proposal has already slipped by, on 7th April!