{"id":203855,"date":"2022-03-04T06:51:28","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T14:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=203855"},"modified":"2022-03-04T13:51:13","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T21:51:13","slug":"controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year\/","title":{"rendered":"GamBetDC, Controversial Washington DC Sports Bet App, Lost $4M Last Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington DC\u2019s sports betting app, GamBetDC, booked a $4 million loss in its first full year, DCist<\/em> reports. The DC Council said in February 2021 it expected the platform to bring in $6.2 million for the district.<\/p>\n

\"GamBetDC\"
An ariel view of Washington DC, above. DC\u2019s sports betting app GamBetDC managed to block access to more than half of its registered users on Super Bowl Sunday. (Image: The Telegraph<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those disastrous numbers have prompted the DC Council to revise tax revenue expectations for next year when it hopes to make a profit of $1.5 million. It\u2019s still a drop in the ocean compared to the $27 million that former DC CFO Jeffrey DeWitt projected for 2021 back in November 2018.<\/p>\n

\n

Lottery officials told the DC Council that marketing costs had pushed the app into the red. They said revenue estimates had been wildly inflated because they were working with \u201cvery limited data\u201d in 2018. Although presumably, DeWitt knew what the district\u2019s population was then.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

DC Lottery director Frank Suarez admitted Thursday that you would have to multiply the population tenfold to get \u201canywhere close\u201d to DeWitt\u2019s numbers, as reported by DCist.<\/p>\n

Super Bowl Howler<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Still, it doesn\u2019t help that operator Intralot fumbled the ball on Super Bowl Sunday, by far the biggest betting event of the year.<\/p>\n

The operator made a technical mistake when it submitted an app update. This rendered GamBetDC inaccessible to iPhone users on the big day, That’s more than of half its registered customers.<\/p>\n

Suarez conceded the blunder caused the app significant \u201creputational damage,\u201d as well as a financial hit, and the Lottery was currently negotiating compensation with Intralot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The DC Council\u2019s decision to go for a high-hold model may also be contributing to its underwhelming performance. \u201cHold\u201d refers to the percentage of bets the operator keeps after winning bets are paid out.<\/p>\n

\n

The council said the model was chosen to \u201cmaximize revenues\u201d for the district. But it also means GamBetDC has been offering some of the stingiest odds in America. Despite the council\u2019s optimism, offering odds that are over-juiced compared to competitors in neighboring states, not to mention the black market, is unlikely to be a winning ticket.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On Thursday, Suarez\u00a0said the payout percentage had recently been increased to make the app more competitive with private sportsbooks.<\/p>\n

No-Bid Contract <\/strong><\/h2>\n

DC does allow some private mobile and land-based sportsbooks. But these are geofenced to within two blocks of partner sports stadiums. Some bars and restaurants can apply for retail and mobile licenses, but mobile betting must not extend beyond the walls of the venue.<\/p>\n

DC\u2019s decision to award the district-wide mobile betting monopoly to Intralot in a $215 million no-bid contract was controversial. A whiff of cronyism still lingered over the lottery contract the council handed Intralot back in 2009, which became the subject of a federal grand jury corruption investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington DC\u2019s sports betting app, GamBetDC, booked a $4 million loss in its first full year, DCist reports. The DC Council said in February 2021 it expected the platform to bring in $6.2 million for the district. Those disastrous numbers have prompted the DC Council to revise tax revenue expectations for next year when it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":203856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nControversial DC Sport Betting App GamBetDC Lost $4 Million Last Year<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"DC\u2019s GamBetDC app made a $4 million loss in 2021 despite earlier predictions it would generate $27 million for the district.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Controversial DC Sport Betting App GamBetDC Lost $4 Million Last Year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DC\u2019s GamBetDC app made a $4 million loss in 2021 despite earlier predictions it would generate $27 million for the district.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-04T14:51:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-04T21:51:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/dc.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year\/\",\"name\":\"Controversial DC Sport Betting App GamBetDC Lost $4 Million Last Year\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/dc.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-04T14:51:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-04T21:51:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"DC\u2019s GamBetDC app made a $4 million loss in 2021 despite earlier predictions it would generate $27 million for the district.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/controversial-dc-sport-betting-app-gambetdc-lost-4-million-last-year\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/dc.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/dc.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":799,\"caption\":\"Washington D.C.\u2019s sports betting app GamBetDC managed to block access to more than half of its registered users on Super Bowl Sunday. 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