Hmm, news reports are coming out that online poker is now legal in Washington DC, which seems to be surprising and confusing a number of us, possibly including Congress. Now this is not federally regulated online poker, but rather a measure that would allow the DC - the District of Columbia - to operate an online poker room within district boundaries. Now, apparently no one was talking about the issue because it wasn’t expected to pass. Since Washington DC is the nation’s capital, the poker law needed to be approved by Congress after the district’s city council approved it. And everyone fully expected Congress to say no. After all, they haven’t been particularly friendly to online gambling and online poker efforts. But there is a little twist to this process. Congress has a limited time period to reject any such measure and if they don’t reject it, it is considered to be approved. Well, Congress was busy with bigger problems than poker games being held within the District of Columbia and the time period for them to object has apparently expired.

Now, I’m waiting until next week to see what’s really going on here. Or maybe even longer. Because with a government shut down looming, I’m not sure anyone in the Washington DC area is focused on online poker right now. Even if they may have accidently legalized it. But if it turns out that they have created a legal online poker district right in the Nation’s capital, well this could change the landscape when it comes to looking at online gambling and online poker.

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