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WASHINGTON - This week, Council Member Kenyan McDuffie introduced legislation that would allow additional mobile sports betting apps in the district.
This, after years of underperformance with the current system.
In the last five years, if you wanted to place a sports bet in D.C., it had to be on the lottery-operated GambetDC app, and you had to be a D.C. Resident.
The D.C. Lottery says residents were contributing $15 million dollars to the economies of--- Maryland and Virginia, because of district residents who would go to those jurisdictions to place bets.
Granting a sole provider was controversial when it passed. Two weeks ago, the Office of Lottery and Gaming announced the popular app FanDuel would take over this spring as the lone sports betting provider.
Council Member Kenyan McDuffie said he was incredulous that it took so long. This week, he also introduced legislation that would create more competition for online sports betting beyond just the one provider system in place now.
Currently, there are other companies with brick and mortar locations that have online betting platforms, but the ability to use them in the district is significantly limited.
This bill would change that.
In a statement to FOX 5 this week, the Office of Lottery and Gaming said they were still evaluating this proposed bill.
According to figures released by Kenyan McDuffie’s office, online sports betting in the district has netted a total of just over four million dollars in its first five years despite initial promises much greater than that.
This move to FanDuel is conservatively expected to bring in 10 million dollars annually for the district. If D.C. Council were to pass this bill, McDuffie says it’s hard to say what the fiscal impact could be, but it is better than the current system.