Intralot under Legal Scrutiny over Sports Betting Contract in DC

For years Washington DC was stuck with GambetDC, a sports betting contractor operated by Intralot. The latter company secured a monopoly contract for betting in Washington DC with a price tag of $215 million.

However, GambetDC underperformed significantly and ran into many issues over the past years. This ultimately led to a decision for the subcontractor to be changed in light of the expiry of the sports betting contract in mid-July.

Now, a newly released report suggests that Intralot may be in hot water due to GambetDC. The highly controversial five-year contract is reportedly in the sights of the DC Attorney General, Brian Schwalb, as announced by the Washington City Paper.

So far, details on the matter are scarce. What’s known is that there is an ongoing investigation into Intralot’s sports betting contract for GambetDC. Fillings with the DC Superior Court reportedly confirm the betting probe.

However, the filings from July 22 remain under seal together with any information provided by Intralot, as ordered by a judge at the start of this month. Still, those filings may mean that the Attorney General is looking into the sports betting contract.

An Investigation Into Breaches of DC’s False Claims Act

The Attorney General’s investigation is reportedly looking into breaches of “false claims” laws. This means that Schwalb may be looking into whether Intralot breached DC’s False Claims Act.

According to the Attorney General’s website, individuals or organizations “who violate the False Claims Act by making false claims to the District Government for the purpose of improperly obtaining or retaining government funds” may be subject to court action.

An example pointed by Schwalb involves contractors or subcontractors who are hired and paid to complete a specific task, but the job is “not fully or properly performed.” Usually, recoveries completed under Washington DC’s False Claims Act are due to fraud related to Medicaid.

As noted, the underperformance of GambetDC resulted in its change. Initially, FanDuel was contracted with the task of running the sports betting market in Washington DC. Then, the city’s online sports betting market opened up for more operators with the ratification of its fiscal year 2025 budget.

This paved the way for the increase in the number of betting operators to six. Not unexpectedly, industry leaders such as BetMGM, DraftKings and Caesars showed interest in growing their presence to include Washington DC as well.