FanDuel Sports Wagering Handle 450% Higher Than Gambet DC in Debut Month

American gaming giant FanDuel has hit the ground running in its first month of operation in Washington, DC. The operator posted $4.9 million worth of revenue within its first 30 days of operation, surpassing many of its own and the industry’s broader expectations. In May, the operator’s first full month of operation in DC, the operator processed more than $29.7 million in wagers.

This is an astronomical milestone in the grand scheme of sports wagering operations in the District of Columbia. That’s because in May last year, Gambet DC, the former operator of the Washington DC Office of Lottery and Gaming (OLG), only registered a handle of about $5.4. So, compared to last year, there has been a staggering 450% jump in the volume of wagers handles. Cumulatively, players who wagered via FanDuel in DC took home $24.9 million.

Further, the $4.9 million revenue collected by FanDuel in May vastly eclipses the $711,282 collected by GambetDC in the same month last year. And by the way, the amount collected by FanDuel is higher than all the other operators combined for any of the other months in DC. This essentially shows how dominant the FanDuel start has been in DC, as there are other active operators in DC, including BetMGM and Caesars Entertainment.

FanDuel’s Rise as the Official Sportsbook Partner for the District of Columbia

FanDuel officially took the reigns as the exclusive provider of regulated sports betting in the District of Columbia on April 15th. This move had been preceded by the OLG’s completion of its transition from Gambet DC, an operator run by Intralot. Early this year, Intralot, the official contractor for the District of Columbia decided to go with FanDuel as the official sportsbook in this jurisdiction. This move was because the contractor had struggled to create a competitive product with GambetDC. For instance, the platform lost $4 million in 2021.

OLG executive director Frank Suarez, in the letter detailing how the platform would be moving forward, wrote:

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“OLG and Intralot have evaluated the current platform and believe that FanDuel and its industry-leading platform will perform better within the highly competitive DMV region… Having a national, market-leading platform will help to quickly improve the player experience and drive significant revenue growth.”

The takeover by FanDuel freed the OLG of its responsibility to pay operating expenses ranging from $2 to $4 million annually. As such, FanDuel was tasked with the handling of payment processing, promotions, marketing, and retailer commissions. Part of the agreement involved also involved an obligation for FanDuel to pay OLG a ‘platform-conversion’ fee worth $5 million within 37 days of signing the contract with Intralot.

Gambet is Still Active Despite Falling by the Wayside

Although it lost its online presence in DC, Gambet’s presence in DC is still visible, primarily through its kiosks. In May, Gambet kiosks generated revenue worth $189,095, while the kiosks registered wagers worth $898,671. Meanwhile, players won about $709,576 from the bets placed by Gambet during May.

That said, as things stand, the long-term fortunes of the kiosks remain unclear. So, FanDuel has already issued a notice that it intends to replace betting kiosks at 63 lottery retailers, a move that might ultimately prove to be the final nail in the coffin for Gambet operations in DC. While the Gambet DC app is available for everyone, players can no longer use it to wager on their favorite sports. Consequently, players who still have accounts on the platform and who may have any deposited funds still pending there are advised to withdraw all their money before October 15th.

All said and done, Gambet exits the stage with an unattractive record during its stint in DC. For an industry that has been begging for a shot at a competitive market, the 5 years with Gambet at the helm have been described as nothing short of a disaster.

The decision to hand over the DC sports wagering reins to Gambet came in 2019 when the DC council approved the lottery’s expansion of Intralot’s contract and to create a single-operator market. At that time, New Jersey was the only other state in the country that had approved mobile wagering. Gambet went live in May 2020, when nine other markets had approved digital betting, and three followed DC’s lead by opting for single-operator models.

Harking back to this critical moment, the decision to go with a single operator initially was an error that DC is still reeling from. At the time, this was set up in a hurry with the experts wary of Maryland and Virginia next door and their ability to infiltrate the DC market. It appears that this happened either way, even with DC’s rush to commit to an insufficient operation model.

Over the years, DC’s former official sports betting app faced one challenge after the other. For instance, during this year’s Superbowl, which pitted the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, the app experienced a temporal outage. The app experienced significant technical issues, such as showing error messages to iOS users. This has, unfortunately, been the story of Gambet’s reign in charge. Users have reported poor experiences, non-competitive odds, and technical glitches across the board. Mind you, the recent Superbowl debacle for the app is a repeat of what happened in the 2022 Superbowl showdown between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams. The 2022 Superbowl debacle by Gambet led to a $500,000 compensation to the DC Lottery from Intralot.

Gambet took over the reins with pretty high expectations from many in the industry. Experts had initially projected that the operator would add $20 million annually to the city’s revenue. However, it underperformed significantly, leading to widespread calls for change from city officials and DC residents.

A Potentially More Open DC Market Awaits

With FanDuel taking over and experiencing unprecedented success right off the bat, the DC scene could be set for some new blood action. Analysts figure this could be the first step needed to open up DC to more operators and competition.

On June 12th, the DC Council approved the budget for the 2025 financial year. This budget featured the Sports Wagering Amendment of 2024 with specific clauses that appear to support market expansion. The council unanimously backed this budget in a legislative meeting, and the second reading is scheduled to happen soon. It, however, remains to be seen how receptive the government and the DC residents will be to the idea of an expanded market.