The Council of the District of Columbia held a public hearing on May 4 to debate the Internet Gaming and Consumer Protection Act of 2026, or Council Bill 26-0656. It was introduced by Councilmember Wendell Felder on April 9, 2026.
“The purpose of the Internet Gaming and Consumer Protection Act of 2026 is to amend the District’s existing law governing the lottery and associated games to add a new title, authorizing and regulating Internet gaming or IGA online,” Councilmember Matthew Frumin said. “Casino style games like blackjack, poker and roulette played on mobile devices or computers are already accessible to District residents through unregulated and offshore platforms.”
Frumin said in 2024, it is estimated that residents of Washington, DC wagered close to $700 million on these unlicensed platforms.
“These platforms currently operate in the District without meaningful consumer safeguards or regulatory oversight, creating both health and financial risks for residents and limiting the District’s ability to respond to any potential issues of fraud or theft arising from them,” Frumin said.
This legislation establishes a comprehensive licensing framework, including a consumer protection plan, responsible gaming requirements, taxation reporting, and an enforcement framework administered by the Office of Lottery and Gaming (OLG).
There was just one brief mention of how this bill would also ban sweepstakes casinos.
“Additionally, the bill defines and prohibits unlicensed sweepstakes gaming and similar dual currency gaming products,” Frumin added. “This allows the District to take action against these unlawful online platforms.”
Commissioner: Let’s wait until a new mayor is elected
Felder said his bill would help Washington, DC economically.
“As our economy continues to shift as federal layoffs impact working families, and as we face ongoing budget pressures and economic uncertainty, we must begin thinking creatively and responsibly about sustaining revenue sources that do not place additional burdens on residents already struggling with the rising cost of living,” Felder said.
He said that this legislation creates a regulated framework for online gambling, gambling under the Office of Lottery and Gaming, with strong consumer safeguards, age verification requirements, responsible gaming tools and enforcement authority to crack down on illegal and predatory operators.
Felder added the legislation establishes a 25% tax on online gaming revenue and licensing fees that can help the District address critical budget shortfalls, while supporting investments in behavioral health services, financial literacy, consumer protection, and other essential public programs.
Commissioner Bernie Horn spoke against the bill, making three points.
“First, creating new gambling sites that are supposed to be legal is not going to stop the illegal sites,” he said. “It’s not going to move anyone from the illegal sites to the legal sites. The second point is that Internet casino gambling is intended to be addictive. It’s created to be addictive. While the government might make money on this, the government’s also going to have to spend money to try to do something about people who have lost their money to gambling.”
Horn’s third point is that this is premature.
“I think that we’re going to have a different mayor soon,” Horn said. “We’re going to have a substantially different Council soon. Something that has such a long-term and substantial effect shouldn’t be done in this Council session. It should be done next year when we have the new decision-makers.”
Responsible gambling advocates chime in
Les Bernal, National Director for Stop Predatory Gambling, said their mission is to reveal the truth behind commercialized gambling operators to prevent more victims. He emphasized that the non-profit does not accept funding from commercialized gambling interests.
Bernal said it’s time that they added the principle of no taxation by exploitation alongside the principle of no taxation without representation.
Stop Predatory Gambling reviewed the District of Columbia lottery’s financial reports for the last several years.
“Over the next five years, your constituents are going to lose $400 million of their personal wealth to forms of gambling that the District sponsors,” he said. “And in the last fiscal year alone, that was $79 million of lost personal wealth. That’s $150 per minute.
“We’re gonna wipe out these illegal markets. Since the District has legalized online sports gambling, the rate of illegal gambling in this District as well as across the country and state after state that has legalized sports gambling has increased. We say we’re gonna regulate this? The District of Columbia today, in every low-income neighborhood, on every street corner is selling $50 lottery scratch off tickets. That’s what regulated gambling looks like in the District.”
Oliver Barie with the National Association Against iGaming (NAAiG) spoke in opposition to the expansion of “the most addictive form of gambling that government can authorize”.
NAAiG claims it’s seeing harms in real time in Pennsylvania and other iGaming states — calls to the 1-800-GAMBLER helpline have increased every year for the past six years, Barie testified, with over half of the callers identifying online gambling as their most problematic form of gambling.
“The revenue case for iGaming is overstated,” Barie said. “We recognize the District faces budget pressures this year, but not every revenue source is worth the risk. Supporters point to increased tax revenue. Yet a recent analysis that we commissioned with The Innovation Group estimates that the District would generate roughly $18 million annually over the first four years of legalization of iGaming. That must be weighed against a social cost that follows enactment.”
Barie noted that legalizing iGaming will not eliminate illegal gambling.
“Just last month, Michigan, another iGaming state, announced that had issued 45 cease and desist orders this year alone to illegal offshore operators targeting Michigan residents,” he said. “Illegal operators continue to thrive because they offer what legal platforms cannot: better odds, bigger bonuses, fewer restrictions, and no taxes. That is why illegal operators still control roughly 74% of America’s $90 billion online gambling market.”
Barie said they believe this bill raises serious policy and legal concerns.
“We recently commissioned a legal analysis that concluded that iGaming would likely violate the Federal Johnson Act because the systems used to deliver online casino games likely constitute prohibited gambling devices under federal law,” he said. “Our analysis suggests congressional action, not Council action, would be required before iGaming could proceed in the District.”
Brianne Doura-Schawohl, Director for the National Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said she was mentored by Keith White, the leading national expert on fair gambling. White taught her online gaming is Frankenstein’s monster of advertising, access, and action.
White taught her the values of the Total Consumption Model — when you further expand gambling, you expand the number of problems.
“Experts say that iGaming is 10 times more addictive than its other gambling counterparts and it is illegal in 42 U.S. states,” Doura-Schawohl said. “Two of the states that have legalized iGaming — New Jersey and Pennsylvania — have found that the rates of addiction are three times greater than the presumed national average. That’s roughly 6% of their population that’s actively struggling today.
“Research tells us that for every one individual that’s struggling, six others are negatively impacted. And of all the addictions it carries with it the greatest rates of shame and stigma. Individuals struggling are 15 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. This industry is dependent upon those that are struggling.”
DraftKings, FanDuel both testify in support
Nearly two years ago, the Council passed legislation to modernize the District’s online sports wagering market. Soon after, DraftKings launched and has contributed nearly $11 million in tax revenue to the District.
“The bill represents a natural next step building on the District’s success by joining eight states and authorizing iGaming as part of the District’s existing, well-regulated gaming framework overseen by the Office of Lottery and Gaming,” Matt Scalf, Senior Government Affairs Manager at DraftKings, said. “Importantly, iGaming is already occurring in the District through unregulated operators. These entities generate $18.8 billion annually nationwide without paying taxes or adhering to basic player protections for the District. This represents an unrealized recurring revenue opportunity estimated at $500 million over the five-year financial plan.”
BetMGM developed the proposal to open up the DC online sports betting market to a competitive mobile licensing framework. They speculated then that if DC opened the market, it would likely experience rapid tax revenue growth.
“Markets around the country have experienced impressive success in generating tax revenue for critical state programs by structuring a market where multiple iGaming operators can offer their products statewide without geofencing restrictions,” Robert O’Connor, Vice President of Government and Industry Affairs for BetMGM, said. “This type of framework recognizes two fundamental consumer dynamics. One, people are increasingly seeking out entertainment through digital means, and two, they like to have options to compare game products, game types, betting odds, loyalty rewards, and ultimately use what they believe to be the best platform for their gaming interests.”
John Pappas represented the iDevelopment and Economic Association. He has been a DC resident for almost 30 years and has two young children who are in the DC public school system.
“Online gambling is here today,” Pappas said. “Every single month, 100,000 visits to offshore websites from the District of Columbia happen. Tens of thousands of ads are delivered not only to minors, but to adults here in the District of Columbia every single month.”
He said these sites have no age of verification, no responsible gaming tools, no consumer protection, and they generate the District zero revenue. Pappas urged the Council to regulate it.
Michelle McGregor with the Sports Betting Alliance also spoke in strong support of Felder’s proposal to legalize iGaming.
She said legalizing iGaming in DC is the right public policy approach.
“Council legalizing iGaming does indeed help migrate consumers to a regulated market, and that comes with immense consumer protection requirements, safeguards and coordination with the state and with the regulator to ensure that we identify people who are gambling outside their means and curtail it and prohibit them from accessing illegal gaming,” she said.
She doesn’t think it’s possible for any government to ever completely eradicate an illegal market, but “you can impose regulations that create friction and help provide resources to consumers.”
