Washington DC Seeks to Introduce Online Casinos and Ban Sweepstakes

(AsiaGameHub) –   The District of Columbia is considering the introduction of online casinos, a move championed by Councilmember Wendel Felder. Last Thursday, Felder introduced a new draft bill, B26-0656, which aims to significantly reform Washington, DC’s iGaming regulations.

The proposed legislation seeks to achieve multiple objectives, including modernizing the gaming framework, enhancing consumer protections, and recapturing revenue currently being lost to offshore and unlicensed operators.

Building on its experience with mobile sports betting, launched in 2019, Washington, DC is now looking to expand its gambling offerings by introducing online casinos linked to existing land-based establishments, according to Felder.

Pushing into Online Casinos: Is This Next for Washington, DC? 

Washington, DC has historically been hesitant to legalize iGaming, with the District of Columbia showing resistance to such initiatives in the past.

However, Felder’s bill is presented as a strategy to stimulate the local economy, broaden the state’s tax base, and prevent the outflow of funds from the district.

Under Felder’s draft proposal, entities seeking an online casino license would be required to pay a $2 million upfront license fee, with renewals costing $500,000 every five years.

The bill establishes the legal online casino gambling age at 21. Licenses would be available to current sports betting operators or new entrants. Suppliers would face lower licensing fees, paying $50,000 initially and $25,000 for renewals. A tax rate of 25% would be applied to adjusted gross revenue up to $500,000 collected by each licensee.

Felder’s draft legislation also outlines comprehensive consumer protection measures. These include a mandatory requirement for players to set daily, weekly, and monthly limits on spending and losses, alongside session and time limits, and cooling-off periods.

Players would also receive notifications detailing their net spending, winnings, and losses, providing them with real-time insights into their gaming activity.

Bringing Online Casinos While Taking Sweepstakes Out

Furthermore, Felder’s bill aims to grant the Office of Lottery and Gaming authority over sweepstakes games. The regulator would be empowered to issue cease-and-desist letters to sweepstakes operators, effectively aiming to remove them from Washington, DC.

The sweepstakes industry has faced significant opposition nationwide, with many jurisdictions successfully pushing these operators out.