Sportsbook Platform GambetDC Launches Betting Kiosks at Four DC Locations

• DC Lottery Sportsbook Platform GambetDC Launches Betting Kiosks
• Venues Receive Commissions on Bets Placed Using their Bettor Booths
• DC Sports Betting Market Failing to Meet Optimistic Revenue Projections

DC Lottery Sportsbook Platform GambetDC Launches Betting Kiosks

Last Friday, sports betting got even easier in Washington DC as GambetDC, the “sole online and mobile option for bettors in the District,” launched betting kiosks in four popular area venues.

GambetDC is the sportsbook platform of the DC Lottery, and they are hoping these new easily accessible kiosks will help to jumpstart the slow start that sports gambling is making in the nation’s capital city.

Each of these four DC locations will now feature two to three terminals where live sports bets can be placed by bettors:

• Ben’s Next Door, a “Black and family-owned American restaurant and bar”
• Lou’s City Bar, DC’s newest neighborhood sports bar
• Takoma Station Tavern, a pub with live soul and jazz
• Dirty Water Sports Bar, plenty of tv’s, beer specials, and an outdoor rooftop patio

The hope is that by giving area gamblers easier access to making legal sports wagers, it will help to generate more overall action and therefore revenue, with those venues receiving commissions for the business they do generate.

Venues Receive Commissions on Bets Placed Using their Bettor Booths

The agreement between GambetDC and the different kiosk locations involves a 5% commission to the house on every wager placed via their machines as well as a 1% commission each time they cash winning wagers for bettors.

The remaining revenue goes to GamebetDC and the DC Lottery which transfers it to the District of Columbia’s General Fund, and tax dollars from that support various functions, including public works, public safety and justice, the public education system, and human support services.

Except all the potential revenue that industry experts predicted would be generated by legal sports gambling in DC hasn’t materialized in the operation’s first year and a half.

DC Sports Betting Market Failing to Meet Optimistic Revenue Projections

When Washington DC launched its legal sports betting operation in 2020, the Lottery forecasted it would bring in around $6.2 million, a number that was drastically lowered from prior predictions of $22.6 million.

But DC has come up far short of those numbers, and currently, through the first three quarters of the fiscal year, DC has “right around $230,000 in revenues” according to Craig Lindsey, the interim COO of the DC Lottery.

Not meeting those initial lofty financial predictions in DC and elsewhere could easily be blamed on the worldwide pandemic that has been economically devastating for most businesses and individuals this last year and a half.

However, some leaders like DC Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie aren’t as convinced of that and have questioned whether the District has solid sports betting plan in place, saying:

I do see the trends in other jurisdictions, and it makes me wonder if we’ve gone about this the right way.

Now with these newly added betting kiosks at well-frequented venues plus the kiosks that will also soon be added at lottery retailers around the area, the hope is that gambling revenue will start flowing more rapidly, at least more than the slight trickle that the District has been generating so far.