Slow Start in Terms of Revenue for DC Lottery, Says a Report

Punters in Washington D.C. bet only $1.2 million on sports betting for the two months of operation of GambetDC.

GambetDC Operated for Two Months to See Only $1.2 Million Wagered

The sports betting platform in Washington D.C. – GambetDC launched back on May 30. Until August 3 it has seen only $1.2 million in sports wagers, reported the news outlet WTOP. This makes the puny amount of $237,000 which was raised as revenue for the DC district for that period.

Keeping in mind that the district is with a population exceeding 700,000 people, the wagered revenue is significantly lower than what was expected. Back near the end of 2018, the sports betting was just legalized in the district. At that point, there were high expectations for the revenue which the industry will raise in the years to come. More than $90 million in gambling revenue was expected to be raised, however with the current pace, this may not be possible.

Sports betting in DC was expected to launch back in March this year. However due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the state, the launch was pushed back. More recently, in May GambetDC launched the official gambling platform of the DC lottery. The mobile application for both iOS and Android followed in June. However, the launch of the application as well as the gambling platform was not accompanied with the initially planned marketing.

Unappealing Odds and Postponement of Major Sports Impacted DC’s Gambling Revenue

Commenting on the subject, Sara Slane, founder of the top gaming industry consulting companies Slane Advisory said: “Because it is really much more of a monopoly, the odds that were being offered to consumers were not terribly appealing for them to want to place a bet.” She continued by saying: “I just think it’s been a lackluster experience so far and hasn’t really attracted the demand the city was hoping would be created.“

Besides the odds that seemed unappealing, the postponement of global sports events also contributed negatively in terms of the revenue which was raised in DC. Despite the sports betting launch in DC back in May, major sports events were not reinstated until July. With that in mind, even when major sports were not reinstated, sports bettors in other states still found sports interesting enough to bet on. However, looking at the latest results, this was not the case in DC.

DC’s Sports Betting Revenue Compared to Colorado’s

Elsewhere, in Colorado similar to DC sports betting was launched back in May. Although in terms of population there are $5 million more people living in Colorado, results since the launch are astonishing. Looking at May, in Colorado there were some $25 million wagered on sports betting. And in June, bettors spent some $38 million more. In that line of thoughts, we cannot miss to say that in Colorado, there are some 20 different sports betting applications available.

Focusing back on DC area, we can honestly say that there is room for improvement of the sports betting revenue. Although the current results haven’t raised any major concerns, according to WTOP, the Council in the district is expected to receive a report on the performance by GambetDC. With that in mind, we can only hope that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will go away soon which will undoubtedly result in a kick start for the industry.