Online sports betting in DC on hold until the city budget is approved

It is the fiscal 2025 budget that will give authorization for online sports betting to take place, but in the meantime sports betters must place their bets in person. In a statement to the Washington Post, FanDuel said it would begin accepting online bets once the fiscal 2025 budget is approved. 

If Bowser does not sign the budget by July 25, then it will automatically go into effect. 

FanDuel is the only online sports betting service offered across the city. It came to the Washington, D.C., area in April, following a failed attempt with GambetDC, which was powered by the D.C. Lottery.

FanDuel temporarily stopped accepting online bets on Tuesday. 

BetMGM was scheduled to go live citywide on Monday, but it has since been postponed. Online betting through BetMGM was only available to gamblers inside a two-block radius of Nationals Park. Caesars is another sports betting site that was supposed to go live citywide but is being postponed. 

The city’s $21 billion budget for 2025, approved by the Council of the District of Columbia last month, included a bill that offers up to seven licenses for online sports betting throughout the city. 

However, FanDuel President Christian Genetski wrote a letter to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson in June that said the company would cancel its contract with Intralot, which requires them to pay the city 40% of its gaming revenue, if the city moves forward with expanding licenses for other sports betting companies. FanDuel would then sign with an independent operator where it would only have to pay the city 20% of its revenue.

They would, in fact, be resuming their sports betting offering as a Class A operator in partnership with DC United at Audi Field.

“FanDuel remains committed to providing the District and its residents with a best-in-class sports betting offering. Upon final approval of the FY2025 DC Budget, FanDuel will resume its sports betting offering as a Class A operator in partnership with DC United at Audi Field and continue to offer our citywide mobile app to the District of Columbia,” a FanDuel spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.