Mayor Muriel Bowser is considering allowing poker games and blackjack tournaments in a limited version that would apply only to restaurants, hotels, and entertainment venues in Washington, DC.
Study Under Consideration
Washington, DC, is in the midst of a budget crunch, which likely prompted the mayor’s administration to float the idea of the Poker and Blackjack Gaming Authorization Act of 2025. This is a budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 and would allow some existing businesses to offer retail poker and blackjack in their establishments.
The District is still against resort casinos, which is good news for neighboring sites like MGM Resorts, which operates MGM National Harbor, located across the Potomac River in Maryland, featuring more than 2,200 slot machines and 200 table games.
However, bars and restaurants would be allowed to apply. Entertainment venues, including Nationals Park, home of the MLB Washington Nationals, is already equipped with a retail BetMGM Sportsbook. Caesars would also benefit as it currently operates a retail sports betting book at Capital One Arena, which is home to the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals, Washington Mystics, and Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team.
“Our initial, kind of, thinking around the (poker and blackjack) tournaments is that we will open them up to our hotel properties,” Bowser said during the introduction of her proposed budget on Tuesday. “Our initial thinking around the commercial bingo is that we would open them up to restaurants.”
The bill would authorize a study on the impact of these limited card games and their socio-economic effects on the District. Mobile sports betting is already operational in Washington, DC, but its plans to include iGaming and land-based casinos have hit a logjam. This is intended as a sort of compromise and would help defray the deficit the District is facing.
Tourism Boost
Offering these games at hospitality hubs would likely increase tourism, which would have a domino effect on other retail establishments and generate more income for the local government.
If the budget is approved, the city’s Office of Lottery and Gaming (OLG) would govern applications for these retail games. An application fee of $5,000, with annual renewals set at $1,500, is the amount required for businesses to offer poker and blackjack, with $2,000 per annum required for each additional location. The District’s cut would be 25% of the revenues generated by the games.
Nina Albert, DC’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said that the study is intended to explore the opportunity and not enact it without sufficient due diligence.
“The District has enjoyed healthy revenues over the last 20 years and has been growing over the last 20 years,” said Albert. “Our population has grown, our business base has grown, and we want to continue doing that, but at this moment, to ensure we’re still collecting tax revenue and, as importantly, have jobs for people to go into, we need to be exploring every avenue of growth, including sports and entertainment.”
