DC sports betting hopes in jeopardy as elections oust gambling advocate from council
Proponent of broad sweeping reforms Elissa Silverman exits district council leaving legislation facing uncertain future
Proposals to reform the DC sports betting market in 2023 are in the balance following the ousting of prominent district gambling advocate Councillor Elissa Silverman.
Silverman, a two-term incumbent in the DC Council, lost in a campaign that pitted her against fellow council members Anita Bonds and Kenyan R. McDuffie, with McDuffie the eventual victor. The race to the council position was the last to be called following Tuesday’s national elections.
Silverman’s campaign was also dogged in the final days of voting by a ruling by the Office of Campaign Finance that she improperly spent campaign money on a poll of the Ward 3 primary race, which she was not running in.
Her fellow DC council member Mary M. Cheh will also exit the council after deciding not to run for re-election, while two new Democrat councillors will join in the shape of Matthew Frumin and Zachary Parker.
The DC Council is the body responsible for governance and legislative management of Washington, DC in a number of areas including sports betting in the district. The council holds regular meetings and runs for an average term of two years.
This included the signing of an exclusive contract with Intralot in 2019, the result of which was the Gambet DC app, which has endured a troubled time since its launch in 2020 due to being plagued by technical issues and underperformance.
In her capacity as a councillor, Silverman was an outspoken opponent of the Intralot contract and has leveled several attacks against the Gambet DC app following its legacy of underperformance, including her most recent criticism where she labeled the app as “embarrassing” for the district.
Last month, Silverman, along with DC Council colleagues Brooke Pinto, Charles Allen, and Mary Cheh, tabled legislation aiming to enact a reform of the DC sports betting market.
The ‘Sports Wagering and Fair Competition Amendment Act of 2022’ would allow for the wider licensing of sportsbook operators and apps including DraftKings and FanDuel, with licenses running for five years at a cost of $1m per application and $500k for renewals.
Operators entering the district under the legislation would be liable to pay a tax rate of 15%, the same rate as that in neighboring Virginia and Maryland.
The legislation, if passed, would see the contract for the Gambet app signed by Intralot be terminated when it expires in 2024, instead of allowing it to renew. The contract is worth an estimated $215m and exists on a sole-source (exclusive) basis.
The contract to run the DC lottery system and sports betting operations would then be put to a competitive bidding process, with bidders required to “get serious” about profitability by showing how they would reasonably make money for the district.
If passed, the bill would see the repeal of the ‘Sports Wagering Procurement Practices Reform Exemption Act’ of 2019, which initially paved the way for the Intralot contract to be signed.
However, with the departure of two of the bill’s chief proponents in Silverman and Cheh, the future of this legislation remains uncertain.