Online Gambling in D.C. Soon Expected to Be Reality

Michael A. Brown, a D.C. Council member, tweeted recently that a hearing date had been set to look at the city's plans to offer online games. The Finance and Revenue Committee is scheduled to hold discussions on June 29 concerning the city's lottery and the possibility of it offering online games in the near future.

In part, the hearing is the result of a craftily written amendment to an extra budget bill that was passed by the council in April 2025. One section of the amendment called for allowing the D.C. Lottery to run online gambling services as long as they are within District limits. Although the amendment was tucked neatly into the bill, no one contested it and Congress appeared to pay no attention to the month long waiting period, which came and went quietly.

Following the so-called Black Friday, the day in April 2025 when the U.S. federal government closed down numerous U.S. online poker sites, national interest in online gaming in America has been high. Questions are floating around online sites about whether D.C. can be a gambling refuge, while the U.S. is still sorting out its decisions and feelings about online casinos.
"It should have a positive effect for us because now those people who did play those games can come to D.C. and have consumer protections and regulation. I think a lot of folks who play poker as a full-time job will probably consider moving to the District," Councilperson Brown said in a recent interview with Poker News.

For now, however, Councilperson Brown has to deal with complaints that he acted unethically when he pushed through the amendment but didn't disclose his association with Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, a law firm whose worldwide clients include lottery, casino and gaming dealers.