William Hill’s first full month of activity in the Washington D.C. market saw players stake $9.1m at the operator’s sportsbook in the city’s Capital One Arena, far outstripping handle for the DC Lottery’s Intralot-powered online offering.
The William Hill sportsbook went live early in August through the operator’s partnership with Monumental Sports and Entertainment, owner of the arena and Washington Wizards NBA team, Washington Capitals NHL franchise and Washington Mystics WNBA outfit.
This is only a temporary facility, however, featuring seven ticket windows and 10 betting kiosks, with construction of a permanent sportsbook within the stadium underway.
It processed 69,085 bets during the month, from which customers won $7.7m, leaving the operator with $1.4m in revenue. From the 10% tax on sportsbook gross revenue, the city received $142,527.47 from William Hill’s activities for the month.
This far outstripped amounts wagered on the DC Lottery’s Gambet app, which totalled $2.1m in August, from 66,831 bets. Customer won $1.9m during the month, which suggests revenue of $278,141 for the month.
The Gambet site went live on May 28 – having originally been due to launch in March – with a mobile app following in June.
Since its launch, players have staked $3.1m from 105,322 bets, and won $2.6m, in a period where sporting action has been significantly curtailed by novel coronavirus (Covid-19). This would suggest Gambet generated revenue of $457,166 in the period.
There has been much criticism about unattractive odds on offer in the app, though there remains significant scope for growth, with retail kiosks still to be rolled out.
That was due to take place in 2020, but now looks to be pushed back to next year, thanks to disruption caused by Covid-19.