In its first month of operation, William Hill’s land-based DC sportsbook dominated the US capital’s sports betting market.
According to the DC Lottery’s latest figures, William Hill’s land-based sportsbook at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC took $9.1m in sports bets in August, outperforming the DC Lottery’s Intralot-powered sportsbook app.
A total of 69,085 sports bets were placed at the sportsbook and in terms of revenue, William Hill generated $1.4m from sports betting operations after paying out $7.7m in winnings.
With the 10% tax on a sportsbook’s gross revenue, the district received $142,527 from William Hill’s operations in August.
William Hill in DC
The William Hill sportsbook at Capital One Arena is the product of a partnership with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the company that owns the Capital One Arena.
Monumental Sports also own the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals, and Washington Mystics.
William Hill launched its temporary land-based sportsbook in the venue’s box office at the end of July. Currently, the temporary space features seven ticket windows and 10 betting kiosks.
A permanent sportsbook is under construction at the venue and will be located in the space where the Greene Turtle Sports Bar and Grille used to be located.
William Hill vs Gambet
When compared with the DC Lottery’s sportsbook platform, GambetDC, William Hill dominated Washington DC’s sports betting in August.
According to the state’s figures, DC bettors wagered $2.1m on sporting events via the Lottery’s platform in August. A total of 66,831 wagers were placed via the app.
Bettors managed to win $1.9m back from the Lottery in August, leaving the operator with $278,141 in revenue in August.
The Gambet sportsbook site, which was initially meant to launch in March, went live on 28 May and its mobile app followed in June. Since launch, DC bettors have placed a total of 105,322 sports bets via the platform and wagered a total of $3.1m on sporting events.
The DC Lottery’s platform has been mired in controversy since it was announced that the DC Council voted to skip the standard bidding process and grant the district’s sports betting contract to Intralot, granting the Greek company a monopoly on the market.
In addition to this, the GambetDC platform launch was delayed several times and features uncompetitive odds and a lengthy signup process. The Lottery’s sports betting platform did not take its first sports for more than 15 months after receiving approval.
However, there is still room for growth for the DC Lottery’s offering as betting kiosks are still to be rolled out. These kiosks were set to be introduced in 2020, but due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, this is unlikely to take place until next year.
