April 7, 2011: Washington DC Legalizes Online Poker
Online poker is currently well on its way to legalization in a number of US states including Nevada, Iowa and Washington; and plenty more look to follow. But the whole intrastate-poker movement started in a Washington DC, which isn’t even a state at all.
Last April the DC City Council approved a measure titled the Lottery Modernization Act of 2010. This creative bill stretched the definition of lottery to include games of skill, like poker and set up DC as the nation’s go to spot for online gambling.
Unfortunately, city politics in Washington DC takes it cues from the inept lawmakers in Congress. (Remember, Congress holds the purse strings for the non-state.) After nearly a year of infighting and accusations of impropriety, the bill was repealed. DC never got legal online poker, but they do get credit for starting the trend.