An advocacy group is pushing a bill in Washington, D.C. that would legalize small casinos offering poker and card games in locations around the nation’s capital, beginning with the historic district of Anacostia.
The group, known as the Citizens Committee in Support of the Limited Gaming Initiative of 2016, is engaged in a petition drive to get a measure on the November ballot to legalize casino-style gambling in the downtown D.C. area. The committee is funded by Anacostia Redevelopment, a corporation registered in Delaware.
The ballot measure would ask voters to approve or reject a proposal to convert three connected properties in downtown Anacostia into a 9,000-square-foot casino offering poker and banked card games including blackjack, after which similar facilities would be licensed throughout the city. Slot machines would not be permitted.
The city would charge a usage fee for each facility, the proceeds split between D.C. Public Schools, the Housing Production Trust Fund (which helps create and preserve affordable housing) and the D.C. treasury.
“It’s about job training, real jobs, new revenue for the city, (and an) elevated regulated gaming experience for visitors,” Citizens Committee Chairman Barry E. Jerrels told local radio station WAMU 88.5. “Our goal is to target the visiting population of the district.”
The Anacostia location is the site targeted by a similar ballot initiative spearheaded by Jerrels in 2006, seeking voter approval to place video slot machines there.
The plan faces many hurdles, the first of which is approval of the initiative by the D.C. Board of Elections, which will consider the measure during its May 4 meeting. Should the board approve, the advocacy group would need to collect at least 25,000 signatures to place the question on the November ballot.
