DC council bypasses competitive bidding for sports betting supplier

The District of Columbia has agreed, by a narrow margin, to bypass competitive bidding for the technology required to launch district-wide mobile betting at a legislative meeting Tuesday.

Still subject to a second vote, a similar result would probably mean Intralot would be a shoo-in as sole supplier, expanding its existing lottery contract.

Bill sponsor Jack Evans, addressing the council, said bypassing the standard procurement process would save the city $60 million in terms of the time it would take in following the usual channels which would delay the launch and result in the loss of around 27 weeks of Revenues.

“I urge my colleagues to support this bill today, given the beneficial impact that the speedy passage will have on the District — and keeping in mind that a portion of the money goes to violence prevention.”

“I share our chief financial officer’s desire to get sports betting up and running as quickly as possible, because we can benefit from that additional revenue,” Elissa Silverman, council member, said. “But I still think we need to have a lottery contract process — especially in light of what happened with the lottery the last time — that our residents actually have confidence in …

“I think there are both good governmental and practical advantages to separating the two contracts, at least at the beginning.”