Officials at the D.C. Lottery aren’t planning any changes to their online gambling industry plan after a number of community meetings showed no reason to do so. The nine meetings took place over October and November after twice being postponed and seeing more delays than the UK’s rail network. They were put in place to inform the District’s wards on the plans and early indications are that there was little opposition to D.C.’s plans.
“I think the substantial majority of people who attended and spoke were supportive,” said D.C. Lottery Director Buddy Roogow, while admitting that any disagreement was over how revenue would be shared.
There was of course outright opposition as well to the plan that would see D.C. eventually launch a first-in-the-nation intrastate online gambling service. Well that was the idea some months back anyway and before all dem haters started coming out of the woodwork. Jack Evans and Tommy Wells have some opposition in their hearts as they have been looking at legislation that would repeal the iGaming plan. Evans had called the meetings in the first place and will present the findings alongside a plan to repeal the bill, first presented by Wells, at a hearing entitled iGaming.
According to the Washington Post, Wells, the Ward 6 Democrat, saw a backlash at a meeting in his ward on November 21. He said around 10 people wore yellow shirts and suggested that most residents wanted to see iGaming implemented. Wells commented: “It was the first time that I’d seen an organized effort to prevent the repeal. They had obviously been coached.”
If Wells is unsuccessful, which could be the case, D.C. rolling out online gaming is likely to lead to other states doing so on an intrastate basis that would unravel over the next decade.
Still in D.C., next week sees the opening of a summit that sees some of the most influential voices on Internet Gaming in the US meet to discuss its future. The first Digital Gaming and Lottery Policy Summit takes place from December 5-6 at the city’s Hilton Alexandria Mark Center and will attempt to address changes to US Internet gaming policies. The event includes keynote addresses from Rep. Joe Barton and Sen. Raymond Lesniak with industry veteran Sue Schneider in attendance as a presenter along with various other relevant dignitaries. To register visit this link.
