DC Budget Includes Provision to Kill Lawsuit Seeking Recovery of Gambling Losses
The new D.C. budget includes a key provision designed to retroactively kill a lawsuit that sought to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in sports betting losses. The measure, tucked into the city’s nearly $22 billion budget, exempts sports betting and other forms of gaming from a 300-year-old law.
Gutting a 300-Year-Old Law
At the heart of the issue is the “Statute of Anne,” a British law from 1710 that was inherited by the District. The law was originally designed to discourage gambling by allowing players to sue to recover their losses.
An updated version of the statute allows anyone who loses $25 or more to sue, and if the player doesn’t, a third party can sue for triple the amount of the losses, with half of the recovery going to the city.
In February, a group called DC Gambling Recovery LLC used this archaic law to file a massive lawsuit against major sportsbooks. The suit sought to recover all sports betting losses incurred in the District since 2019, a figure potentially in the hundreds of millions.
A “Legislative Fix” to Protect the Market
The new budget provision effectively nullifies this lawsuit. It explicitly exempts sports betting, as well as blackjack, poker, and lottery games, from the Statute of Anne.
Crucially, the change is retroactive, meaning it applies to past losses, which will invalidate the existing lawsuit once the budget is signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser.
D.C. officials and industry representatives argued the change was necessary to protect the city’s legal and regulated sports betting market.
They contended that the old law was an oversight and was never intended to apply to a modern, regulated industry. “It was probably an oversight that the Statute of Anne remained on the books when the sports betting law was enacted,” said D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson.
A Controversial Move
The move has drawn criticism from the group behind the lawsuit, which is composed of “several public interest-minded attorneys.” They argue the retroactive change is unfair and robs the District of a potential windfall of over $300 million. They believe any changes to the law should only apply to future losses.
The D.C. Attorney General’s office, however, sided with the city and the sportsbooks. It intervened in the case, arguing the Statute of Anne does not apply to modern sports betting and worked with the D.C. Council on the budget language to clarify the law and stop the lawsuit.
In addition to gutting the lawsuit, the new budget also officially legalizes retail blackjack, bingo, and poker in the District. These games were previously not explicitly legal throughout the city.
The D.C. Council approved the budget on Monday, and it now heads to Mayor Bowser’s desk for her signature. The move is a major victory for the sports betting industry, which had faced a significant and unusual legal threat in the nation’s capital. It also closes the book on a bizarre chapter where a 300-year-old law threatened to upend a multi-billion dollar modern industry.
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