Washington D.C. officials question Online Gambling bill

Council members in Washington raised questions toward top lottery officials with regards to whether or not the district's online gambling proposal was properly processed before becoming a law. D.C inspector general Charles Willoughby expressed his concern of the city's contract with a software vendor saying that online gambling was not yet provisioned when the deal was made. The district has a reportedly $39 million agreement with Greece-based vendor, Intralot.

The inspector general criticized Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi and his office for changing the terms of the contract with Intralot after its approval to include online gambling provisions. Willoughby said that a proper bidding should have been conducted to allow other vendors to compete and add transparency to the process.

Willoughby engaged the district's financial office during a hearing before the council's Committee on Finance and Revenue that is discussing whether or not to repeal the already passed gambling law. Council member Jack Evans, who heads the committee said that he is not concerned if online gambling is delayed in the district.

"Given where we are now, should we go back and revisit it or not? That's what I'll decide," said Evans. "There's no rush to get this done."