In the minutia of the 10th April Budget Meeting, Washington DC’s Office of Lottery and Gaming revealed its plans to request the DC City Council approve an extension of two years to the deal it has with Lottery and Sports Betting operator Intralot.
In March, OLG notified the DC Council of its intention to discontinue GambetDC, its sports betting platform that has been underperforming for years. Intralot, a lottery provider, runs the platform.
The contract will end on 14th July. OLG granted Intralot permission to subcontract FanDuel’s online sports betting in March.
The agency is now requesting a 2-year extension of the deal that will soon expire. The deal, if approved, could give FanDuel a 2-year lead on digital sports wagering in District.
Frank Suarez, the lottery’s chief, told DC Council Committee on Business and Economic Development that two years would be enough for it to release an RFP. It could be a single new vendor, or multiple vendors.
Kenyan McDuffie, a councilmember from Washington DC has introduced a bill to create a market that is competitive. The current model of a single operator would not be applicable. DC Council is yet to take any action regarding the 25-0753 bill. The bill is scheduled to be discussed at the Business and Economic Development Meeting on 6 May.
OLG to Launch FanDuel Today
In the event that McDuffie’s bill is passed and the OLG renews the contract of lottery vendor Intralot for another two years, FanDuel and Intralot would have the monopoly.
OLG launched the FanDuel platform at noon local time today, 15 April. They announced this last week. The OLG will replace GambetDC products with FanDuel at retail stores. Bets that were placed prior to 14 April but will be settled before 30 June will still be active, according to OLG. You can withdraw money from GambetDC up until 15th October. GambetDC funds will not be transferred to FanDuel. Customers will instead have to open a FanDuel Account in order to wager in the District following 14 April.
The DC Council is yet to act on McDuffie’s bill.
Currently, OLG has a contract with only one lottery provider: Intralot. The current regulations only allow for a single wagering platform to be available in the entire city. McDuffie’s bill will change the regulations and permit multiple platforms to operate throughout DC.
The RFP process and launch would take 2 years
Suarez informed the committee of the fact that Intralot would continue its lottery and wagering contract for two years if it were to be extended. After that, however, OLG can split contracts so that Intralot does not renew their sports betting contract automatically.
Suarez stated that during the Business and Economic Development Hearing, the RFP takes approximately a year. The process includes writing the request, accepting bids and vetting them and then awarding the contract.
According to the hearing it has requested that the contract for Intralot/FanDuel be extended by two years. It is to give enough time for the awarding of one or several licences. Then, the license will be extended to include additional operators or even different ones, as needed.
Inequity will be seen by other operators
The inequity will likely make other operators fume. BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook and other operators already offer wagering to DC. According to the law in place, these operators can only offer wagering at their partners’ venues or within an exclusion zone of two blocks.
It would only take a change in the geofence to extend their offering throughout the city. BetMGM has a partnership with MLB Washington Nationals. Caesars has partnered up with both the NBA Wizards & NHL Capitals.
Operators such as DraftKings and ESPN Bet have also expressed their interest in entering the market. It is due to their close proximity in Maryland and Virginia. GambetDC was not offered to any of them. The latest round of Intralot sports betting contracts was not open to bidders, just as the first Intralot contract.
