To escape GambetDC, some frustrated sports gamblers head to Virginia

November 8, 2022 at 10:14 a.m. EST

“I can get exercise and I can place bets,” Steve Cimino told his wife when he started bicycling to Virginia. “Everybody wins.” (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)

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Like many city dwellers, Steve Cimino does not own a car. So, in early 2021, when Virginia launched online sports gambling, the writer from Northeast Washington came up with a plan. On Saturdays, he could chart a 15-mile bike ride that would take him across the river into Arlington. Once across the state line, he would pull the bike over — often stopping to sit on the same ledge just off a bike path, right outside the Air Force Association Headquarters building — place his bets on his phone and then start back home.

“I can get exercise and I can place bets,” Cimino told his wife. “Everybody wins.”

Cimino is not alone in his journeys across the river. Despite mobile sports gambling being legal in the District, many D.C. players find themselves drawn to Virginia and its far more robust options, driven across the Potomac River mostly by frustration with the D.C. operation. They pull their cars to the side of Virginia roads, they schedule visits to suburban friends, they study college football lines before a trip to the airport — all for what they consider an easier and more enjoyable gambling experience.

“On a Sunday, it’s [second] nature now to drive over the line and pop back over in time for the 1 o’clock games,” said Mike Callow, a radio producer who works in Northwest Washington. Callow often stops in empty parking lots just over the Virginia state line to place his bets.

After the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that states could establish their own sports gambling laws, D.C. became the first Washington-area jurisdiction to act, launching its online operation in May 2020, eight months before Virginia. But the D.C. Council chose to award a no-bid, $215 million contract to gaming company Intralot. The resulting platform, GambetDC, is managed by the D.C. Lottery.

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In the fledgling world of mobile sports gambling, a monopoly like that is rare. Most states that allow mobile sports gambling have approved multiple big-name competitors like DraftKings, Caesars and FanDuel, all of which are offered in Virginia. (The apps require geolocation checks to verify that users are in a permitted jurisdiction.) With Maryland set to launch its own mobile operation in the coming weeks — and with 10 operators already having applied to offer mobile betting in Maryland — D.C.’s only-show-in-town approach will soon be surrounded by a stable of competitors, offering better promotions and more highly regarded apps.

Cimino remembers reading about D.C.’s coming launch and feeling a deep sense of skepticism. When the time came and he fired up the Gambet app, he felt justified in his distrust.

“It just seemed like all the fears came to fruition,” Cimino said. “It is a dumb, unfinished, incomplete app that we were all supposed to love just because we love gambling.”

Cimino’s reaction was a common one, and soon a chorus of criticism clouded the city’s operation. Users voiced displeasure with details both aesthetic and integral. They claimed the user interface was bad, the geographic restrictions were confusing — mobile gambling isn’t permitted in parts of the District — and the odds themselves were worse than those offered by other outlets.

“The app was garbage — it’s still garbage — and the actual lines? Oh my gosh, I took one look at it and said ‘nope, I am not placing bets on this thing,’” Callow said.