Washington DC’s new sports betting app is being panned in a recent audit as offering poor odds for players and low revenue for the city. The GameBet audit, which was carried out by the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor (ODCA) said that GameBet was performing well below expectations and that the DC sports betting market would definitely benefit from a more competitive environment.
According to the report, which is titled D.C. Sports Gambling Fails to Meet Expectations, one of the chief failures of IntraLot’s GameBet product is that it offers terrible odds for bettors. Odds are so bad on GameBet that Legal Sports Report recently said, “Even with novice bettors, it won’t take long for them to understand Intralot’s offerings are much more expensive than traditional 20-cent lines.”
Of course, sports betting operators who operate without competition have no incentive to provide value to their players, but that doesn’t seem to bother the folks at DC Office of Lottery and Gaming (OLG). Their response to the audit’s call for more sports betting operators in the DC market was a very bureaucratic, “The cost of regulating far exceeds the licensing fees collected by license applicants OLG is using GambetDC revenue to make up the shortfall.”
Just let that sink in for a moment.
And when it comes to reducing the District’s massive vig the OLG says, “OLG and [Intralot] continuously review payouts and will make adjustments as required in order to be competitive in the marketplace and to maximize revenue to the District.” Of course Intralot has no competition, so this is really a moot point.
Not surprisingly, revenue from DC sports betting has fallen well below expectations, but as long as DC Lottery and the OLG support GameBet’s solo show, DC bettors will continue getting taken to the cleaners.