Intralot granted DC Lottery sports betting contract
The Washington, DC Council has awarded Intralot a five-year contract to power the city lottery’s sports betting offering, despite mounting concerns over the manner in which the contract was handed to the Greek lottery and gaming solutions provider.
The contract, for which Intralot could earn up to $215m over the five-year term, was backed by seven councilmembers, with five voting against. The Council used an emergency measure to bypass a public procurement process, to ensure it did not lose sports betting revenue to the neighbouring states of Maryland and Virginia.
However the process has long been dogged by controversy, with councilmembers first pointing out that the argument that Washington, DC could lose sports betting revenue to other states did not hold up to scrutiny. Maryland failed to pass wagering legislation during its regular session, while Virginia will not have a regulatory framework in place until June 30, 2020 at the earliest.