D.C.’s overall online sports betting handle was up 254.1% year over year in July as the district opened up to multiple commercial operators for the first time.
Until July 17, FanDuel was the sole provider of online sports betting across the district through its partnership with the D.C. Lottery. By the end of July, it had been joined by BetMGM, Caesars and DraftKings in offering online wagering D.C.-wide.
After just two weeks, the transformation is already evident.
Overall, D.C.’s mobile sportsbooks collectively took $27.3 million in bets and made a total of $3.9 million in revenue in July. Those numbers were down slightly from June but up 254.1% and 176.2%, respectively, from July 2023, back when the much-maligned GambetDC was the sole provider. Year to date, D.C.’s online sports betting handle of $162.8 million is up 65.4% compared to January to July 2023.
The D.C. Lottery’s switch from GambetDC to FanDuel had already yielded big results. In its three months as the monopolist, the U.S. market giant took $78.5 million worth of bets, and its success was a big reason why D.C.’s overall June handle was up 165% year over year.
FanDuel handle dips
Naturally, given that it was the only operator to take bets across D.C. for the whole of July, FanDuel made up the bulk of the numbers, taking $20.1 million of the $27.3 million.
However, FanDuel’s July handle was down 13.4% from June’s $23.2 million. That dip was significantly above the contraction of the D.C. market in general; the district’s overall sports betting handle fell 7.7% month over month.
In the first half of July, FanDuel took $10 million in bets and made $1.7 million in revenue while paying a 40% tax rate as the D.C. Lottery’s partner and the sole online sportsbook. In the second half of the month, as one of several Class A operators through its partnership with Audi Field, it handled $10.2 million in wagers and made $1.5 million in revenue.
In total, FanDuel made $3.1 million in revenue in July.
DraftKings handles $1.2 million in first 6 days
The arrivals of fellow big names look poised to fuel even greater growth.
BetMGM and Caesars had already been operating retail sportsbooks in D.C. but became available on mobile district-wide on July 17 after previously being restricted to a two-mile radius of their brick-and-mortar shops. FanDuel’s biggest nationwide competitor DraftKings went live in the district on July 26.
BetMGM, partnered with Nationals Park, made $282,661 in July revenue from $3.3 million in handle. Caesars, tethered to Capital One Arena, took $210,172 in revenue from $1.9 million in bets, the operator’s all-time low handle in the district.
DraftKings, meanwhile, took around $1.2 million in bets in its first six days of operation in the D.C. market. The sportsbook entered the market through a partnership with MLS franchise D.C. United and made $113,293 in revenue before month’s end.
August’s numbers, which will reflect the first full month of a multi-operator market, will make for fascinating reading.
