Washington, D.C. Could Soon Have The First Sports Betting Facility Inside A U.S. Arena

Topline: A new partnership between Monumental Sports of Washington, D.C., and British betting firm William Hill aims to create the first legal betting establishment inside a major U.S. sports venue.

• Monumental Sports & Entertainment—owner of the Washington Wizards and Capitals sports teams—will team up with William Hill U.S. to open a sports betting facility inside the district’s downtown Capital One Arena. The sportsbook will be the first of its kind inside a U.S. professional sports venue.
• Monumental Sports owns the arena, along with the Wizards, the Capitals and WNBA’s Mystics. Monumental’s chairman and CEO, Ted Leonsis, commands a net worth of $1.3 billion, according to Forbes.
• Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal could see the sportsbook open as soon as 2020. Construction is expected to begin once the deal passes all required regulatory approvals.
• The partnership with William Hill—which will run the betting operation—is to ensure there are no conflicts of interest with any of Monumental’s team franchises, Leonsis told the Wall Street Journal.
• The betting facility will span several floors of the Capital One Arena, be open daily, and feature full-service food and beverage offerings. Executives from both companies have said the goal is to turn the stadium into an all-purpose sports-betting complex, where fans can place wagers at the venue or even on their phones.
• The deal with Monumental Sports is part of a big U.S. expansion push by William Hill, now the nation’s leading sports-betting operator with over 140 outlets in 10 states, according to the Wall Street Journal. Back home in the U.K., the company had previously faced a regulatory crackdown and was forced to close hundreds of locations.

Crucial quote: Leonsis told the Washington Post he learned about William Hill years ago while on a family trip to a remote town in Scotland, where the local betting parlor was the heart of the community. “I joked it’s kind of like Starbucks there. ... It’s everywhere,” he recalled. “I would walk in and see young people, business people, mothers, sports fanatics and soccer fanatics.”

Key background: A landmark Supreme Court decision last year gave states permission to legalize sports betting on their own, breaking Nevada’s monopoly on the practice. Live betting has since been legalized and launched in 13 states, while Washington, D.C., and four other states have approved laws but have yet to launch any betting operations.