Businesses in Washington DC opened retail sports betting on Thursday, 29th July 2021, after entering into a partnership with DC Lottery-powered sportsbook operator GambetDC.

Popular local bars and restaurants, which include Takoma Station Tavern, Dirty Water, Lou’s City Bar and Ben’s Next Door are among the venues offering Gambet’s self-service betting kiosks.

The businesses celebrated the launch of the vertical on Friday, 30th July by hosting events for their patrons. These events showcased the self-service betting kiosks and featured local sports figures which included Rick ‘Doc’ Walker, Santana Moss, Brian Mitchell and Fred Smoot.

The businesses that offer the service in partnership with GambetDC will be given a 5% commission on all sports betting sales as well as a further 1% commission on cashing of any winnings.

According to the operator, it is committed to helping local businesses recover from the impact of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Nicole Jordan, Director of Marketing and Communications at DC Lottery, commented that they are extremely excited to support these iconic local businesses and to help them return from the pandemic better than they were when it started.

Jordan went on to say that together, GambetDC and these local businesses are going to prove that betting on DC is always a good decision.

Last week results were published showing that customers in Washington DC wagered an amount of $19.5m in June, which is an increase of 42.3% on the amount that was bet in May,

Operators brought in revenue of $2.2m for the month from those wagers.