Washington DC is the latest jurisdiction in the United States to put iGaming legalisation on the legislative agenda, with Councilmember Wendell Felder introducing a bill this week that would authorise real-money online casino gaming in the District while simultaneously banning the sweepstakes casino platforms that have operated under a legal grey area for years.
The legislation, filed on April 9 as Council Bill 260656 and titled the Internet Gaming and Consumer Protection Act of 2026, was assigned to the Committee on Human Services with a hearing scheduled for April 21.
The DC bill follows a wave of state-level activity in 2026 that has produced victories and defeats for iGaming expansion across the country. Online casino gaming is currently legal in eight US states including New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Indiana and Maine have both passed sweepstakes casino bans this year, while Maryland, Virginia and Mississippi have seen similar bills either fail or stall, a patchwork that reflects both the enormous revenue opportunity legislators see in regulated iGaming and the political sensitivities that surround any gambling expansion.
Felder, who chairs the Subcommittee on Local Business Development and won the 2024 election to succeed former Mayor Vincent Gray, has framed the bill explicitly around the argument that inaction carries its own costs. “iGaming is already accessible to District residents through unregulated and offshore platforms,” he wrote in the legislation text. “In the absence of a legal framework, these platforms operate without meaningful consumer safeguards, age verification, or regulatory oversight, creating risks for residents and limiting the District’s ability to respond.”
The proposed tax rate of 25 percent on adjusted gross gaming revenue places DC at the higher end of the US iGaming tax spectrum. New Jersey operates at 15 percent, Pennsylvania at 54 percent for slot revenue and 16 percent for table games, and Michigan at around 28 percent. The DC rate is aggressive enough to generate meaningful public revenue while remaining competitive with the national range. Initial licensing fees would be set at $2 million for a five-year term, with renewals costing $500,000.
The first $500,000 of annual iGaming tax revenue would be directed to the Department of Behavioral Health for gambling addiction services. The remainder would be split across the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants, the Department of Employment Services, the Department of Insurance, and the Department of Health, with uses ranging from youth AI and coding training to domestic violence survivor services and debt management programmes. The allocation reflects a political calculation that iGaming revenue can do broad-based social good, a framing that helps counter opposition from groups concerned about gambling harm.
Operators with existing DC sports betting licences would receive priority consideration for iGaming authorisation under the bill. Washington DC launched mobile sports betting in 2024, ending FanDuel’s brief monopoly on the market, so a number of major platforms already have a foothold in the District that would give them a clear path to the casino vertical if the bill passes.
The sweepstakes ban component is arguably the most immediately consequential element for operators currently active in the market. Dual-currency platforms that allow virtual credits to be exchanged for cash prizes are explicitly targeted, with the DC Attorney General granted enforcement powers including cease-and-desist authority and the ability to pursue restitution and disgorgement against non-compliant operators. The bill’s definition of a prohibited dual-currency product is deliberately broad, encompassing any scheme using two or more forms of credit or tokens where one can be converted to cash equivalents.
Whether the bill advances through the Committee on Human Services hearing on April 21 and progresses toward a Council vote remains to be seen. The District has a history of resistance to iGaming expansion, having previously looked at the issue and shelved it. The broader political environment in 2026, with multiple surrounding states having either legalised or actively debated online casino gaming, strengthens Felder’s argument that DC risks becoming an outlier whose residents simply use other jurisdictions’ platforms without any local oversight or tax benefit.
