Sportsbooks in the District of Columbia will have to wait more before they start welcoming guests. The DC Office of Lottery suggests that it isn’t expecting a launch before summer 2021, which marks a six-month delay compared to its previous plans.

Yet another delay

The DC Office of Lottery and Gaming isn’t expecting to launch its retail sports betting market till 2021. The city has already launched its online sports betting platform called GambetDC a few days ago. It only had a handful of games to bet on because of which it could have minimal impact on the fiscal 2020 revenue of the Lottery.

Gaming officials have also removed $9.6 million in anticipated revenue from sports wagering in this year. Lottery Executive Director Beth Bresnahan testified during a June 3 budget oversight hearing before the committee on business and economic development of the DC Council.

He said, “Rollout of the retail network component of GambetDC, which was initially slated for this fall, has been pushed to summer of 2021. The pandemic has presented physical, operational and some personal challenges upon the lottery and upon our small business retailer partners across the city.”

The DC Lottery’s total projected revenue for fiscal 2020 was decreased to $34.1 million to $56.2 million. About $12.5 million of the decrease in sales of the traditional lottery. It cited the impact on its operations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

What happens in the future?

The agency has also reduced its revenue projections for the fiscal year 2021 to $51.3 million. Earlier, it was expecting $69.7 million in revenue. However, it has not specified how much of that decrease can be attributed directly to sports betting alone.

The Office of DC Chief Financial Officer removed about $1.4 million in projected tax revenue to be collected this year via privately operated sportsbooks. It has already lowered the projected fiscal 2021 tax collection to $942,000 to $1.9 million.

DC’s sports betting has been delayed several times before as well. It had to face a $215 million lawsuit over sole-source, no tender contract to Greek gaming firm Intralot. The firm was given the opportunity to operate the mobile online gaming platform. The suit is being appealed at the moment.