If a sinkhole had somehow opened up under the Wilson Building Wednesday, Loose Lips wagers that there would hardly be any sports betting lobbyists left in D.C. 

Just pick your preferred influence peddler and you could find them in attendance as the Council prepared to take a highly consequential vote on the future of sports betting in the District. LL spotted lobbyists for FanDuel (Jon Mandel), DraftKings (Dal Harper), Holland and Knight (Janene Jackson, who represents several sports betting concerns), and several of the city’s professional sports teams hanging around the Council chambers ahead of the second vote on the 2025 budget. Plainly, there is a lot of money to be made from this suddenly booming industry, and lots of people ready to fight over who makes it.

In this battle royal of moneyed interests, it was the outside sportsbooks who got their way Wednesday: for now, at least. The plan advanced by Council Chair Phil Mendelson and At-Large Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie to open up the city’s sports betting market looks safe, after a key amendment from Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker failed. 

Parker wants to strip the Mendo-McDuffie plan out of the budget, most of which passed unanimously Wednesday. Parker argues that the arrangement—to open up the sports betting market to private operators—has been rushed through without due consideration and before FanDuel has had time to prove its worth. (The gaming giant FanDuel recently swooped in and partnered with Intralot and the lottery’s other sports wagering contractors to try and fix D.C.’s broken system.) But McDuffie and Mendelson convinced most of their colleagues that it’s a better approach to end this monopolistic structure first constructed by the Council five years ago and allow all manner of sportsbooks to operate mobile betting apps citywide. Parker’s amendment failed on a 9-4 vote; he was joined by Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, Ward 7 Councilmember Vince Gray, and At-Large Councilmember Anita Bonds in supporting it.

“Of course FanDuel wants to get entrenched and have a monopoly here,” said Ward 3 Councilmember Matt Frumin. “But we don’t want to have a monopoly in our market.”

Parker will have a few more weeks to try and whip votes because the language authorizing the sports betting changes is included in the Budget Support Act, which is the piece of legislation making policy changes to put the budget into effect. The BSA won’t receive a final vote until later this month. But the fact that this initial amendment attracted so little support, despite Parker’s assertions to LL that he had the votes to pass it, isn’t a good sign. (The amendment up for debate Wednesday would’ve moved $2 million from the Housing Production Trust Fund to McDuffie’s baby bonds program, which is set to be funded by sports betting revenue under this new plan.)

The vote tally perhaps betrays just how hard-fought this issue was. In the run-up to the vote, LL heard from multiple Wilson Building sources that D.C. United effectively switched sides and began lobbying in support of Parker’s plan. The soccer team initially joined the Capitals, Wizards, and Nationals in supporting McDuffie’s bill, but ultimately grew to share Parker’s concerns about the process of passing this measure through the budget. (Ironically, FanDuel is partnered up with D.C. United to offer sports betting in the area around Audi Field.) The other pro teams remained generally supportive of McDuffie’s plan, but their lobbying efforts were more muted than some of the other players.

Several councilmembers, including Nadeau and At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson, also said they shared Parker’s concerns about the process. McDuffie originally introduced this plan as a stand-alone bill, but folded it into the budget in order to get it passed more quickly. Parker noted that previous votes on related lottery contracts were advanced in a similarly rapid fashion, with illustrious backers such as former At-Large Councilmember Michael A. Brown and former Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans behind them.

“I’m not suggesting there’s nefarious intent here, but I am suggesting we need more time to scrutinize the proposal,” Parker said, essentially daring his colleagues to associate themselves with those controversial characters.

But McDuffie argued that his economic development committee has held no fewer than 11 hearings on the sports betting issue over the past two years, including one on the bill that formed the basis of the budget plan. So it’s not as if the issue has gone unscrutinized, he said. Mendelson similarly argued that sports gambling is a “revenue generator,” so it warrants inclusion in the budget. The proposed change is expected to bring in about $8 million in annual revenue, though there’s a huge dispute over the accuracy of that estimate.

“Time is of the essence here,” McDuffie said. “The longer [other sportsbooks] are kept out of the market, the more difficult it will be for them to compete.”

McDuffie was also able to allay concerns about the effect the change will have on bars and restaurants that host betting kiosks run by Intralot (and soon, FanDuel). 

Many influential business owners—Virginia Ali of Ben’s Chili Bowl chief among them—have argued that opening the market could make their kiosks less attractive by putting them in competition with a slew of mobile apps. Similarly, they fear what would become of the kiosks if FanDuel follows through on its threats to back out of its arrangement with Intralot should McDuffie’s plan move ahead. But McDuffie has been drafting legislative language that requires other sportsbooks entering the market to provide these businesses with kiosks, as a backstop of sorts. (His team reportedly held a meeting with some of the concerned business owners and representatives of the sportsbooks to address these concerns as well.)

“We want our contractors to honor their contracts,” he said. “But we will not hesitate to protect our small businesses, as we have before.”

So if Parker’s push fails once again in a few weeks, what comes next? For starters, the other sportsbooks could start applying for licenses as soon as the budget language takes effect. But the Council will also need to decide what will become of the existing lottery contract with Intralot and FanDuel, which is set to expire on July 15.

In a very amusing bit of timing, the lottery sent the Council a two-year, $86.1 million extension of the Intralot deal for approval on Tuesday. (This broadly matches the expectation of McDuffie’s team, which feared the lottery would ask for the full five-year extension allowed under the contract without any intervention from the Council.) McDuffie has generally supported a renewal alongside his plan to open the market, as that would give the other sportsbooks a chance to try out the new system while giving the city some time to decide if it wants to rebid its contract with Intralot. The lottery has said it would take at least two years to do so, so the extension would buy it a little time.

But if FanDuel follows through on its pledge to pull out of its deal with the city, that could complicate matters. The lottery has still never shared the terms of FanDuel’s subcontracting deal with Intralot, so it’s unclear how quickly it could unwind that arrangement or if there’d be any gap in service as the District gets the new regime rolling. 

Lawmakers won’t have long to decide what to do about it. The Council’s July 9 meeting will likely be its last before it goes on summer recess.