Washington DC Plays Hard Ball

Washington DC Council member doubts whether the internet gambling law will profit the district.

Tommy Wells a democrat council member may have a significant impact on the legalization of internet gambling in Washington DC if he decides to revoke it.

On the 19 July he was rather apprehensive and couldn’t understand the way internet gambling has become law even when it formed part of the budget. Wells said he is not against it per se, all he wants to know is how it will benefit the district. He said, “It is not good government. It’s not an open book.” On a more positive note Council Chairman, Kwame Brown took away Wells’ chairmanship of the transportation committee, this reduced his influence significantly.

Jack Evans who is the chairman of the Washington DC council’s finance and revenue committee, said that had a meeting with Wells and that he is against internet gambling at this stage, stating, “I’m not going to do it until I’m very comfortable that this thing is okay. It might take far longer than anticipated or it might never be legalized. I don’t have any fixed date as yet. It’s not going to go into effect immediately maybe until after October, maybe not.”

To add on to this, Buddy Roogow, the D.C. Lottery Director aims to hold community forums in all eight of the city’s wards so that residents could voice their opinions and he said he plans to “give great weight” to those concerns.

Because the law has not been given the green light yet, the Council has more than enough opportunities to give it the vetting it needs. The law’s author Michael A. Brown says that no other council member expressed their disapproval and that he supports Evans’ outlook by taking the public’s opinion into consideration first. He said, “It is imperative we get this right the first time round and not rush matters.”