The Washington DC Lottery Corp has changed its rules around limiting big winning accounts thanks to a single bettor using a terminal at a restaurant in the city.
As reported by the Washington Post this week, the lottery updated its terms of service policies after the sharp bettor used supposed deficiencies in the Gambet DC platform to win around $100,000.
The bettor told the Post that he won over $100k from his activity but that, once the operator cottoned on to his edge, they limited how often and how much he could wager.
Limiting winning bettors is not a new thing; this has been a common practice in the industry in the US and Europe to ensure that sportsbooks always have the advantage, yet this story indicates that a single bettor changed the lottery’s entire policy.
“Emergency action is necessary to promote the immediate preservation of the health, safety, and welfare of District residents,” the Lottery said. “In order to curb excessive wagering and ensure responsible play at retail locations, any individuals found to be spending a lot of time or money at the kiosks or placing many wagers in a short period of time could be limited in how much they could bet.”
The Post enquired about the sharp bettor to the lottery, asking whether this one individual was indeed the reason for the policy update.
It responded: “The emergency rulemaking action was in part motivated by the recent observation of a GambetDC player that appeared to be frequently placing an unusually high number of wagers and wager amounts at retail.”
The bettor explained that he used deficiencies in the pricing of the Gambet DC sportsbook lines to win his profits. They compared the prices to other sportsbooks such as Caesars and Circa to do so.
This will only amplify the criticisms of the Gambet DC platform that have arisen since it launched in 2020.
An audit conducted by the District of Columbia Auditor ruled that GambetDC, operated by Greek lottery and tech firm Intralot, ‘failed to meet expectations’ following its launch.
The audit report revealed that revenue between May 2020 to March 2021 was around $1.8m, $1.4m of which came from GambetDC’s sole private competitor, William Hill.
This comes despite previous estimates that sports betting revenue would total around $6.2m across the same period.
Meanwhile, the app ran at a $4m deficit in 2021, while 2022 revenue projections have been ‘overinflated’.
