It’s a whole new world for sports betting in Washington, D.C.
FanDuel went live on April 15 in the Nation’s Capital, replacing struggling GambetDC as the only online sportsbook in D.C.
It exceeded expectations in its first 30 days of operation, and the D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming (OLG) reported significant performance gains across multiple categories with its May results.
FanDuel itself collected $29.73 million in wagers in May, helping the total D.C. sports betting handle reach $36.34 million for the month. Total revenue hit $5.63 million thanks to a 15.5% hold. Both the overall handle and revenue metrics were the best all-time.
Previously, the high handle mark was $26.65 million - set in April, when FanDuel took over - and the previous best monthly revenue of $4.43 million was set way back in November 2021.
Nation’s Capital coffers enjoyed an all-time monthly high of $544.600 in tax earnings, bringing the year-to-date total to $1.4 million.
The competition in D.C.
FanDuel’s tallied $4.86 million in revenue on a 16.4% hold, accounting for 89% of the District’s revenue in May as well as 84% of its handle.
Even though FanDuel is technically the only online sports betting site in D.C., a few major sportsbooks are able to activate their online sports betting apps within a two-block radius of their respective retail locations.
Caesars operates a retail sportsbook at Capital One Arena, and collected $2.73 million worth of wagers but only earned $145,800 in winnings due to a 5.35% hold.
BetMGM has a retail shop located at Nationals Park. It collected a $1.57 million handle and posted a 13.88% hold, which spurred $217,400 in revenue.
FanDuel competes in the D.C. retail sportsbook market as well, bringing in $284,000 in bets at $15,100 in revenue from its shop at Audi Field.
Heading in the right direction
FanDuel has been a godsend for a middling D.C. sports betting market. No one was happy with how things went during GambetDC’s tenure. D.C. lawmakers were notably disappointed with GambetDC’s poor performance relative to expectations, only bringing $4.3 million in tax revenue to the city in its lifetime, which was a considerable dropoff from the $84 million that was expected.
May’s metrics completely blew relative period comparisons out of the water.
| Period | Handle % Increase in May 2024 | Revenue % Increase in May 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| May 2023 | 182.8% | 168.7% |
| April 2024 | 33% | 54.2% |
Even if there were no other sportsbooks in D.C., FanDuel’s figures in May would’ve both ranked first in all-time D.C. sports betting monthly totals for their respective categories.
More to come?
There have been rumblings that D.C. lawmakers could amend city regulations in order to expand the sports betting market in the District. The 2025 budget recommendation includes provisions to accomplish this by allowing sportsbooks to partner with one of the state’s professional sports teams and offer mobile sports betting across the Nation’s Capital.
FanDuel president Christian Genetski sent a letter to D.C. City Council chairman Phil Mendelson in June threatening to dissolve its partnership with the city if this new budget goes into place.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser still needs to approve the budget, but Genetski did not mince words with how that would affect FanDuel’s operations in D.C. sports betting.
“Any District-wide sportsbook operations by OLG would no longer have participation from FanDuel,” he said.
