Washington DC Won’t Allow Internet Poker After All

A Washington, D.C. Council committee has rejected plans to allow Internet poker in the District.   

The Committee on Finance and Revenue voted 3-2 in favor of a bill to repeal the program, known as iGaming, which created controversy from the moment it was passed as part of a budget bill in December 2010, the Washington Times reported on Wednesday.

Had D.C. gone through with plans to allow online poker, the jurisdiction would have been the first in the US to do so.

Nevada has since legalized intrastate Web card rooms and that state is currently accepting licensing applications. 

Washington, D.C.’s relatively small population and hot spot restrictions was not expected to sustain a viable poker player pool.

In many ways, the District of Colombia has become a case study in why individual states may have a tough time legalizing online poker without proper representation and expertise from organizations the likes of the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (imega.org), which has assisted the state of New Jersey with its efforts to move forward with this initiative. 

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com