Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Following the Supreme Court’s decision opening the door for states to legalize sports wagering, one D.C. council member wants to see the District jump on board.
Ward Two Council Member Jack Evans told WMAL he plans to introduce legislation shortly to introduce sports betting to the nation’s capital.
“Sports betting is going to be something that’s very popular, so I really have to look nationwide at how other jurisdictions sre doing it, and then move forward in the District of Columbia,” Evans said in an interview.
The District is home to a number of professional and semi-professional sports teams, and Evans said betting within those teams’ home venues would be a possibility.
Gambling has taken off in Maryland, and the District is seeing the new MGM Grand at National Harbor take in gaming traffic just across the border. Evans also cited the popularity of gaming in Maryland as an indication that most of the societal and religious objections have faded away.
“When we looked at casino gambling 15, 20 years ago, there was a lot of opposition, particularly from the religious community, from Congress, and those obstacles now would not exist since Maryland has been very successful in putting in place all kinds of gambling,” he said.
Congress, however, has repeatedly shot down any attempts by District lawmakers to enable gambling outside of its modest lottery program.
“It would be completely hypocritical for Congress, at this stage, to step in and say, ‘You can’t have gambling in the District,’ when many of the states that are represented all have casino gambling,” Evans said.
Maryland is still at least a few years away from legalizing sports betting. Lawmakers in Annapolis failed to come to a pre-emptive agreement this past legislative session to put the measure in front of voters this November. Evans said he wanted to be ahead of the curve.
“I would like to get a bill introduced before we go on recess on July 15th,” he said. “It would be nice to have something in place before everyone else gets out there.”
Copyright 2018 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (Photo: AP)
