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CNBC filed a report Sunday night regarding local jurisdictions, the District of Columbia included, looking at new ways to generate much needed revenue. Internet gambling is one such way.
Washington, DC has already passed legislation that would make it legal to gamble online in Starbucks and parks, even on the steps of Capital Hill. The District doesn’t want its citizens driving to Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to play in the casinos.
“They can do it from Starbucks, a restaurant, bar or hotel, or from a private residence,” said Buddy Roogow, executive director of the D.C. Lottery, who expects the new games to eventually raise $9 million a year. “That’s real money in D.C.”
States like California, Iowa and New Jersey are all looking to legalize online gambling.
CNBC notes that the states may run into trouble with the US Justice Department, which has been cracking down on the industry in recent months.
“States had looked at this haphazardly and not very energetically until the Great Recession hit, but now they’re desperate for money,” said I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School, where he specializes in gambling issues.
When it comes to taxing gambling, he said, “the thing they have left is the Internet.”
