No Retail Sports Betting in Washington, DC Says Regulator. Washington, DC will not restart retail sportsbooks until the summer of 2021, the DC Office of Lottery and Gaming has announced. While online sports betting is now live in the state, the regulator has not deemed it appropriate to restart retail sportsbooks any sooner. Sports betting hasn't yet produced the big payout DC expected Advocates of legalized gambling say COVID-19 slowed the rollout of sports betting in the District, but they remain optimistic things. The DC Lottery delayed the launch of its sports betting platform until 2021, the Washington Business Journal reported. The latest setback for GambetDC was tied to the coronavirus pandemic. The Office of Lottery and Gaming (OLG), which also supervises the DC Lottery, will regulate and operate sports betting in the state. ¨ Through the DC Lottery, the OLG will offer a mobile app that would allow sports betting within state borders. The app is expected to launch soon and will be available for download on the DC Lottery’s website.
The bettors of Washington DC have already shown they will sacrifice some convenience rather than plan on a less-than ideal sportsbook app.
But the competition between William Hill and the DC Lottery’s Intralot-powered GambetDC looks set to become even more one-sided.
William Hill today announced it has added mobile betting to its existing retail presence inside the Capital One Arena.
Now bettors can place wagers through the app as long as they are within a two-block radius of the arena.
Of course, it’s not true mobile betting thanks the the geographical restriction. But it will let bettors avoid queues and peruse a wider range of markets.
One-sided fight between William Hill and Gambet DC
Dc Lottery Sports Betting Odds
Recall, William Hill’s temporary sportsbook at the Capital One Arena took $13.7 million in bets in November.
That’s 3.5 times higher than the $3.9 million in handle GambetDC generated from DC sports betting that month. Gambet DC typically charges -118 on straight bets compared to -110 at Will Hill.
And the disparity will only widen with the William Hill app available. Will Hill also pointed out the temporary retail sportsbook will be replaced with a full-service option in “early 2021”.
Hill’s is the exclusive sports betting partner of the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals, and Washington Mystics, who play at the Capital One Arena.
How does pricing impact sports betting market share?
The uneven contest between William Hill and Gambet DC also highlights the role of pricing in the US sports betting market.
Back in August, Entain CEO Shay Segev caused a stir by suggesting price might not be that important in the US.
Segev said: “We don’t see the US becoming some kind of price war. You want to aim for recreational players. There’s only a small group of players actively looking for best price.”
Segev of course has decades of experience in betting markets around the globe, where price simply isn’t as important as influential bettors would have you believe.
Would that be any different in the US?
“US betting twitter cares about price but that customer cohort is probably 0.1% of any book,” said Chalkline Sports co-founder Daniel Kustelski.
“If price always mattered people would only buy at Walmart and eat no-name brand corn flakes.”
Price as a hygiene factor
Essentially, for a small percentage of players, price is everything. But for the majority, it is more of a hygiene factor. In other words is, as long as the pricing is decent (say -110 on either side of an NFL game) then most people are happy.
However, Gambet DC and other Intralot-run books fail that hygiene factor test. But it doesn’t mean that going to -105 each side will suddenly double your market share.
Dc Lottery Sports Betting Picks
In fact, that often attracts the shaper (unprofitable) customers while many of the recreational players don’t even notice.
Instead, odds boosts have proven to be a much more effective way of using price to attract and keep customers. These boosts are more akin to a supermarket reduction with players feeling they are getting a bargain.
There are only a few legal gambling options in Washington DC. Read on to find out the current status of gaming in the nation’s capital and what’s ahead in 2019.
DC Lottery
Washington DC, offers lottery tickets for popular drawing like Powerball, Mega Millions and Lucky For Life at different retailers across the district.
Powered by Intralot, DC offers nine multi-state lottery games.
Powerball has been available since 1992, and Mega Millions will be coming on board in January 2010.
The most popular option for consumers is DC-4, which has 11 ways to win. Each ticket cost $1 with a price of $5,000. DC-5 includes 120 ways to win with a top prize of $50,000 and a cost of $1 to enter.
Revenue from the DC Lottery goes into the District’s general fund which is used to fund education, public safety, housing and child services. More than $1.5 billion has been generated from lotto ticket sales to date.
DC sports betting
DC sports betting officially launched on May 28 with the introduction of Gambet DC, the new lottery platform.
Dc Sports Betting App
Rules and regulations to govern sports betting were released on June 14. The Office of Lottery and Gaming will open the application process for Class A and Class B sports betting licenses beginning Tuesday, Dec. 3.
After months of heated debate and internal investigations, the DC City Council officially paved the way for a single vendor, Intralot, to operate DC sports betting.
Sports betting in DC can happen in three ways:
- At large Class A locations such as (Nationals Park, Capital One Arena, Audie Field)
- At Class B locations like bars and hotels that apply and are approved for a license
- Through the DC Lottery, which is creating its own system — Gambet DC
For an in-depth look at what DC sports betting could look like, click here.
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Washington DC Casinos
The Nations Capitol doesn’t have any within its borders. However, a short 21-minute drive across the Potomac River into Maryland is MGM National Harbor.
MGM has a variety of gaming options including:
- Poker
- Slots
- Craps
- Roulette
- Blackjack
The property also has a 308 room hotel including several bars and restaurants. Maryland does not permit legal sports betting, but lawmakers are currently working on legislation to do so.