D.C. online sports betting suspended without approval of new city budget

Bowser spokeswoman Susana Castillo told The Post that the mayor received the budget legislation — the contents of which go well beyond sports gambling — on Thursday and that she has 10 business days to review it, meaning she must sign by July 25. If she doesn’t, the legislation automatically goes into effect.

FanDuel replaced Gambet DC, the city’s failed attempt to get citywide sports betting off the ground, in April, and it was scheduled to be joined by BetMGM, which was supposed to go live on a citywide basis Monday (it previously was only available online to gamblers who were within a two-block radius of Nationals Park, where the company offers a brick-and-mortar sportsbook). However, the BetMGM app on Tuesday continued to say that BetMGM would only allow bets within proximity of Nationals Park. BetMGM canceled an announced event promoting its expanded D.C. offerings on Monday.

Caesars sportsbook reportedly also was supposed to go live on a citywide basis Monday, but as of Tuesday it, too, said gamblers needed to be in proximity to Capital One Arena, where it operates a brick-and-mortar sportsbook.

FanDuel said its brick-and-mortar sportsbook at Audi Field continues to accept wagers despite the pause in its online operations.

GambetDC, Washington’s first attempt at a mobile sports betting app that was available citywide, was a dismal failure, bringing in only $4.3 million over a four-year period, well short of the $84 million that was projected. To remedy this, Intralot — the Greek company that in 2019 was awarded a five-year, no-bid contract by the D.C. Council to develop GambetDC — subcontracted with FanDuel to replace GambetDC, and it brought in $1.9 million to the city in its first 30 days alone.

Last month, the D.C. Council gave final approval to the city’s $21 billion budget for fiscal 2025, which included a bill to expand the city’s sports-betting offerings, with up to seven licenses up for grabs. But in a letter sent to Council Chair Phil Mendelson on June 5, before the Council approved the new budget, FanDuel President Christian Genetski said that if the city opened up sports gambling to other companies, FanDuel would terminate its contract with Intralot, under the terms of which it paid the city 40 percent of its gaming revenue, and instead move forward as an independent operator, where it would be required to pay the city only 20 percent of its gaming revenue, plus the costs of acquiring a gaming license.

In essence, FanDuel will be able to keep more revenue for itself under the terms of the city’s expanded sports-betting landscape. It only needs to wait for Bowser’s signature for it to become law.

A spokesperson for Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (I-At Large), who wrote the sports-betting legislation and whose committee oversees the Office of Lottery and Gaming, did not immediately return a request for comment.

BetMGM was the first to announce its expanded presence in the city, while DraftKings — which is available in 25 states and is one of the most heavily used sports betting apps in the country — said on June 25 that it looks forward “to the potential opportunity to introduce D.C. sports fans to our mobile sportsbook product.”

The budget language says new holders of Class A sports-betting licenses could begin offering online sports gambling to people within D.C.’s borders as of Monday, but because Bowser has yet to sign the budget bill, expanded online sports betting is at least temporarily disallowed. This may explain why BetMGM and the other newcomers have yet to offer sports gambling to the entire city.