Online Casinos in Washington, D.C.

The District Licenses Online Sports Wagering, Not Online Casino

Washington, D.C. is a market where the two verticals must be kept apart. Sports wagering is lawful and is offered online. Casino games played online are not authorised at all.

The District's criminal gambling provisions sit in Title 22, Chapter 17 of the D.C. Code and remain in force. Section 22-1704 provides that "Whoever shall in the District set up or keep any gaming table, or any house, vessel, or place, on land or water, for the purpose of gaming, or gambling device commonly called A B C, faro bank, E O, roulette, equality, keno, thimbles, or little joker, or any kind of gaming table or gambling device adapted, devised, and designed for the purpose of playing any game of chance for money or property, or shall induce, entice, and permit any person to bet or play at or upon any such gaming table or gambling device, or on the side of or against the keeper thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not more than 5 years". Section 22-1701 does the same work for lotteries. What is carved out of those offences is set out in Title 36, Chapter 6: the lottery and charitable games, sports wagering, and game of skill machines. Casino games played over the internet are not among the carve-outs.

How the Authorised Online Wagering Works

Sports wagering was made lawful in its own subchapter: "The operation of sports wagering and related activities shall be lawful in the District of Columbia and conducted in accordance with this subchapter". The channel rules are explicit about remote play: "Sports wagering shall occur only over mobile or online applications or in the specific locations within a designated sports wagering facility that have been approved by the Office; provided, that the applications or locations may be modified or relocated pursuant to regulation." and "Mobile or online sports wagering shall be operated only by a Class A sports wagering operator or its management services provider or a Class C sports wagering operator or its management services provider and the licensees shall accept only mobile or online sports wagers from persons physically located in the District of Columbia."

The regulator is the Office of Lottery and Gaming. It began as a board — "There is hereby created by the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia Lottery and Gaming Control Board." — and was reorganised: "the Board is established as the Office of Lottery and Gaming, a subordinate office within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer." Its own description of what it sells is instructive: "Our mission is to responsibly maximize revenue generation for the District of Columbia through the sale of innovative lottery and sports wagering products while providing gaming regulation and oversight that upholds the highest standards of integrity and public trust."

Where District law wants to exclude online play it says so. The definition of commercial bingo expressly puts outside its scope "Bingo played over the internet or in an online environment or on any machine or mechanical device that would qualify as or constitute a facsimile of class II gaming, as that term is defined in section 4(7) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, approved October 17, 1988 (102 Stat. 2467; 25 U.S.C. § 2703(7))."

An Internet Gaming Bill Is Before the Council

The District may change position. The Council's own legislative record for Bill 26-0656 summarises it as a measure that "It would establish a comprehensive licensing, consumer protection, responsible gaming, taxation, reporting, and enforcement framework administered by the Office of Lottery and Gaming." The Council's record showed the bill as "Under Council Review" when this page was researched, which is precisely why the status recorded here is not regulated: an introduced bill is not a licence, and no operator holds one. This page will be revisited if the bill becomes law.

Sweepstakes Casinos

No enacted District statute or Office of Lottery and Gaming statement found for this sheet addresses dual-currency sweepstakes casinos, so no sweepstakes status is recorded rather than one being inferred from the District's real-money position, from a pending bill, or from a national trend. A sweepstakes casino is not a licensed alternative to a real-money one, and the two are never presented here as the same product.

Minimum Age and Where to Get Help

The Office publishes the age for its own games: "You must be 18 years of age or older to play the games of the DC Lottery." District law requires sports wagering operators to address problem gambling, including "Requirements for training the employees of an operator concerning compulsive and problem gambling, and for displaying on an operator's website and sports wagering facility information about available programs to prevent, treat, or monitor compulsive or problem gambling". Nationally, the helpline is run by the National Council on Problem Gambling: "The National Problem Gambling Helpline™ (1-800-MY-RESET) is operated by the National Council on Problem Gambling." It is continuous and nationwide — "The National Problem Gambling Helpline™ offers call, text and chat services 24/7/365." and "This network includes contact centers that cover all 50 states and the U.S. territories." Older state and industry materials sometimes print a different national number, so more than one is in circulation; the number recorded here is the one the helpline operator itself publishes, and where a state body publishes its own helpline that number is shown alongside it.