Washington DC Mayor Renews Push For Poker, Blackjack
Bowser hopes legalizing card games can bring revenue to city’s coffers in challenging economy
2 min
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is making another effort to legalize poker and blackjack in the nation’s capital, and this time she has a key ally in councilmember Kenyan McDuffie.
Bowser submitted the “Poker and Blackjack Gaming Authorization Act of 2025” to District of Columbia Council Chairman Phil Mendelson on Oct. 1, looking to authorize wagering on the card games in certain areas. In her letter to Mendelson, Bowser said legalizing them “will enable the District to recapture revenue from residents and visitors who travel across the border from Maryland for legal card gaming.”
Bowser also envisioned the bill giving the district the potential to host “unique events” such as the World Series of Poker as a means of driving business visitors to hotels, businesses, and tourist landmarks.
McDuffie is chairman of the district’s Business and Economic Development Committee and was central to expanding D.C.’s sports betting market in 2024. The nation’s capital has a more traditional marketplace for sports wagering with six mobile operators after it struggled to gain traction with a lottery-run effort that had limited reach due to prohibitions on wagering around federally designated areas.
Details of the proposal
Bowser’s plan calls for a $5,000 application fee for a two-year license, plus a $2,000 fee for each location opened by a licensee. A license renewal would cost $1,500, while location renewal fees would be $500.
Gross revenue for poker and blackjack would be taxed at 25%, with the first $250,000 collected each fiscal year deposited into the district’s Lottery, Gambling, and Gaming Fund. The balance would be earmarked for the district’s General Fund. Bingo, which would also be legalized in the measure, would be taxed at 7.5% and have lower license fee thresholds.
McDuffie supports the measure “because I think it’s another clear message that the mayor, the deputy mayor, and this city is sending, despite everything around us, that Washington D.C. is not standing still,” he said, as reported by WJLA-TV. “Rather we are investing in our future and proving that inclusive growth, innovation, and economic opportunity are central to our story here in the District of Columbia.”
According to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer for the Government of the District of Columbia, there are funds sufficient to implement the proposal beginning in Fiscal Year 2026 through FY 2029. It added that the Office of Lottery and Gaming “will absorb the cost of any initial licensing activities” and use the tax revenue “directed toward the Fund to hire additional regulatory staff.”
Do Bowser, McDuffie have the juice?
If the recently completed fiscal year for sports wagering in Washington D.C. is any indication, Bowser and McDuffie could find support for their legalization efforts. The district claimed $19.4 million in sports betting tax revenue for FY 2025, slightly more than double the previous year.
The district’s sports betting landscape was completely reworked throughout the summer of 2024, with the much-derided and lottery-run GambetDC eliminated as the mobile space opened. Fanatics and ESPN Bet entered the marketplace during FY 2025, willing to pay a 30% tax rate being untethered to a retail venue after DraftKings did in August 2024.
FanDuel, Caesars, and BetMGM pay a 20% tax rate as mobile operators connected to sporting venues in the district. BetMGM, though, announced last month it would shut its retail sportsbook at Nationals Park, which may make it subject to the higher rate.
