The District of Columbia ( Washington dc plans to open its own online casino ), according to the Washington Post . The city’s plans to open a casino have sparked controversy among the residents. The predominant question being asked about the plans is whether or not the city should get involved in the online gaming business.
The city plans to have its lottery commission monitor the gamers electronically. The measures will include putting in a weekly deposit limit and not allowing any gambling between 4 and 10 a.m. Electronic sign up will help the commission keep underage users from using the service. Plans also electronic measures for cutting people off if they need to be cut off.
The city hopes to raise the money as an additional source of revenue. Increased revenue can reduce the burden of city taxes on property owners, but critics quickly point out that the real casinos opened in Pennsylvania have done nothing to lower in school taxes. The Pennsylvania school districts, instead of lowering taxes to compensate for the extra revenue, take in the extra money that they earn from the gaming commission.
Washington may be the first city to try this measure in the United States, but other governments have tried online casino . Italy’s gaming commission warns that trying to extract too much money from these services can cause the plan to backfire. Gamblers want to have a fair chance of making a profit without being nickeled and dimed by fees. According to the Italian Tobacco and Gambling authorities, operations that prove to be too restrictive will force people to use offshore online services.
Los Vegas has its own appeal that the online casinos cannot beat. Most of them do not try. State governments from Nevada to British Columbia have embraced online gaming. These online gambling venues usually deal with people who want to play professionally. The District of Columbia plans to offer a casino specializing in small games of chances where large prizes are not awarded.
The proposed system will run on a city-owned computer network. D.C. uses the computer network to provide Internet access for other city government departments.