The Washington D.C. Council unanimously approved its FY2025 budget Tuesday, paving the way for a competitive online sports betting market in the District.
Council member Kenyan McDuffie’s Sports Wagering Amendment Act of 2024 is included in the budget, which still needs official approval from the mayor. The sports betting language would allow for numerous operators to enter Washington D.C. rather than just FanDuel, which essentially holds an online sports betting monopoly in D.C.
FanDuel, which acts as a subcontractor of Intralot in Washington D.C., is the only sports betting app available across the District. FanDuel recently took over for GambetDC as the District’s primary sports wagering platform.
McDuffie is hopeful that other betting apps, especially sportsbooks with retail presence in D.C., will soon be able to offer online sports betting across the nation’s capital.
BetMGM (Nationals Park) and Caesars Sportsbook (Capital One Arena) each have major retail sportsbooks in Washington D.C. DraftKings and Fanatics Sportsbook have each expressed interest in coming to Washington D.C.
A Positive for Women’s Sports?
Language in McDuffie’s act requires online sportsbooks to partner with sports teams in the District. Executives with the Washington Spirit, of the NWSL, recently shared optimism about what an open market could mean for the area’s women’s sports franchises.
“In a competitive market, multiple sportsbooks would vie for the chance to partner with organizations like ours, expanding the opportunities for everyone involved,” Spirit CEO Kim Stone said in a June 11 letter supporting a competitive sports betting market.
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Stone is among the stakeholders hopeful the mayor approves the budget.
“Across the sports industry, women’s sports lag behind in terms of where companies spend their marketing and partnership dollars,” Stone wrote. “A vote to approve the city council budget would help narrow this gender gap and encourage sportsbooks to invest more in women’s sports in D.C.”
Some Pushback
McDuffie successfully added an amendment Tuesday, ensuring that small businesses with sports betting kiosks won’t be left behind in a transforming Washington D.C. sports betting scene. Currently, small businesses benefit from having wagering kiosks in their business. Those were GambetDC kiosks and are being transitioned into FanDuel kiosks.
Should the area’s sports betting model change as McDuffie hopes, operators would be required to provide kiosks to businesses who want them. The required small business partnerships would include the same language of the current kiosk deal.
McDuffie’s amendment helps alleviate some of the concerns from other council members that a competitive online sports betting market would hurt small businesses. The amendment passed with a 10-1 vote, with Zachary Parker voting against the amendment.
Parker voted against the amendment because he doesn’t approve of the new sports betting model being pushed through the budget instead of through a traditional bill approval process.
“All of this is unnecessary because we could have done this outside of the budget,” Parker said.
Despite Parker’s objection to the method used for moving the competitive market forward, Washington D.C. is moving toward a more competitive online sports betting system.
