
By Dean Clancy
Budget voters are first chapter in victory over eternal budget deficits
Independent voices from the TWT Communities

The D.C. Council's top proponent of online gambling through the city's lottery system plans to offer a compromise bill on Tuesday to avoid a complete repeal of the program that was passed into law in 2010.

A D.C. Council committee finally showed its cards in the tortured bid for Internet poker and other games through the city's lottery system — and it's game over.

The D.C. inspector general testified Thursday that the city's lottery contract should have been rebid because the D.C. Council could not have known that first-in-the-nation Internet gambling was in the cards when it approved the deal with Greek company Intralot in 2009.

D.C. Council member Jack Evans' self-described "catch-up after the fact" hearing to evaluate the D.C.'s first-in-the-nation online gambling proposal was as notable for what did not happen Thursday as for what did.
A hearing into the personnel practices of D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray started this morning with council member Mary M. Cheh's announcement that a second hearing will be tentatively scheduled for April 7.

A former D.C. government worker said Monday he was directed by D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray's chief of staff to find a job for controversial mayoral contender Sulaimon Brown.
Earlier this month, D.C. Inspector General Charles Willoughby said problems with iGaming stretch back to early 2010, when the D.C. Lottery contract with Greek vendor Intralot was "materially changed" to include the online games shortly after its approval in December 2009.
Mr. Willoughby said the contract should have been rebid with explicit reference to iGaming, so the parties could compete on an even playing field and produce the best price for the District.