GambetDC, the sole sportsbook in town for Washington D.C. sports betting, is run by the D.C. Lottery through a platform built and maintained by a Greek gaming company, Intralot. Nevertheless, a recent memo surfaced that revealed its CEO’s overwhelming displeasure with a subcontractor with political connections, according to recent reports from Axios and Washington City Paper.
D.C. Logic
Washington D.C. is command central for solecism, nepotism, and cronyism. It seems the only thing we can’t get in Washington is the one thing every politician claims to have – patriotism.
And doesn’t it make complete sense that the know-it-alls in Washington believed they could reinvent the wheel and make more money by creating their own sportsbook through the same foreign company that currently runs the D.C. Lottery?
While virtually every other state has multiple sports betting platforms vigorously competing for every sports betting buck, the legislators in the bedrock of our nation decided that putting its lottery in charge of sports betting was preferable to leaving its bookmaking in the hands of professional bookmakers.
There is a reason why DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and Caesars to name a notable few have brought in billions of dollars for the states that contract with them but that didn’t seem to resonate with the D.C. lawmakers.
Apparently, in Washington D.C. eschewing a blueprint that has been a license to print money in other states makes perfect sense when you can put it in the hands of the same company that runs the lottery. And best of all, there’s no reason to put it out to bid because that company, Intralot, is a cog in D.C.’s political machine.
Don’t Mess With Bailey
And so, GambetDC was born and with it was a small subcontractor that goes by the name of Veterans Service Corp when it is not being called Vital Services Contractors, run by a Maryland businessman with serious political connections named Emmanuel Bailey.
Notice that the same company with two names can go by the same three letters, VSC, and no one will know the difference. It feels like a three-card Monte game being dealt by a street hustler in the loop section of DC. To the unsuspecting, the game appears to be on the level but those who know better realize there’s no reason to play if you can’t win.
It’s reminiscent of GambetDC, the sportsbook with no competition which allows it to have wide lines that continually grind their customers with lower odds on the underdogs and higher vig on the favorites than in other jurisdictions. Eventually, the customers get wise and will either stop betting or flee to other jurisdictions with reasonable odds and justifiable lines.
CEO’s Displeasure and Intralot’s Shifting Stance
And while there have been numerous problems with GambetDC, including its iOS app failing during the Super Bowl in 2022 due to its SSL certificate not being renewed, the CEO of Intralot, Byron Boothe, was so incensed with the incompetence of Bailey’s company that he communicated his displeasure with Washington D.C.’s small business agency.
But once that became public, as well as the many emails and documents surfacing from Boothe’s desk as to the many failures of a man who reportedly makes more than $1 million per year from Intralot for delivering less than stellar service, his time at Intralot’s helm was ticking.
“VSC’s principal receives a salary seven times higher than the salary of the District’s Mayor and untethered to any actual work or performance,” wrote Byron Boothe in a 2022 letter to the director of the D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming.
Boothe also wrote, “VSC cannot perform anywhere close to 51%” of the work it was contracted to do “on its own.” Moreover, in 2021, the D.C. Auditor discovered VSC at one point was comprised of Bailey and his elderly mother.
Although Boothe was not specific in his criticisms of VSC, he did allude to Intralot having to repeatedly cover for its subcontractor and ended by writing, “This cannot continue.”
But wouldn’t you know that Boothe was subsequently replaced by Intralot’s chairman, Nikolaos Nikolakopoulos, who promptly wrote to D.C. officials and retracted Boothe’s comments? Nothing to see here, move along.
Speaking Out
Former D.C. council member Elissa Silverman commented on the D.C. sports betting shenanigans by saying, “It leads to the same question over and over again: why are we doing business with Emmanuel Bailey and Intralot at this point?”
She went on to tweet, “DC’s sports betting contract is a scam enabled by certain DC councilmembers who approved it. It was supposed to generate lots of money, and there are no repercussions for those who green-lighted this swindle. Scoop: Civil war inside D.C. sports gambling.”
The last part of the tweet referred to an article by Axios on the triangulated, and some might say, incestuous relationship between Intralot, VSC, and the politicians who rubberstamped the agreement.
And lastly, if you are wondering whether GambetDC is meeting the estimated $20 million in annual revenue it was supposed to produce then consider that in fiscal 2022 the app delivered just $2.7 million to the taxpayers of Washington D.C.
Calculators
