WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL: The D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming says it has received an application for a betting license and is currently conducting ‘due diligence.’
Sports betting won’t be on the menu when the sports bar-themed restaurant Sports & Social opens in Northwest D.C. next week, but it could be in the not-too-distant future.
Sports & Social’s owner, Baltimore-based Live! Hospitality & Entertainment, has applied for a class B wagering license that would allow it to operate two betting windows and up to 15 betting kiosks within the bar and restaurant at 1314 U St. NW, according to the D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming.
If approved, it would be just the sixth full-service sportsbook to open in D.C. since the city legalized sports betting in 2019. It would be the third in the Washington-Baltimore region for Sports & Social, which also houses sports books at its restaurants in North Bethesda and at the Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover.
The D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming did not disclose when the application was filed or where it is in the process, saying only that is now “conducting due diligence.” Live! Hospitality & Entertainment confirmed Wednesday that an application is in the works but declined to provide a timeline.
In D.C., it typically takes nine months to a year for a sports betting application to be approved by the D.C. Office of Lottery and Gaming and the Office of Small and Local Business Development.
The U Street Sports & Social is scheduled to open on Oct. 27 in space that had been vacant since The Smith closed its location there in 2021. The 7,300-square-foot venue will feature dozens of TVs, an 18-foot media wall, an outdoor patio and variety of games and activities, such as Skee-Ball, basketball and shuffle puck.
Live! Hospitality & Entertainment, an affiliate of Baltimore real estate development firm The Cordish Cos., operates 14 other Sports & Social locations across the country, six of which have sportsbooks. It opened its North Bethesda location at the Pike & Rose development in 2021 but did not add sports betting there until last month, when it successfully completed controlled demonstrations overseen by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Commission.
In its first month of operation, the North Bethesda sportsbook took in $477,000 in wagers, according to the Lottery and Gaming Commission.
A spokesperson for Live! Hospitality & Entertainment said Wednesday that the company is in search of a partner, but it’s not clear if it would operate without one.
Its partner at the two Maryland sportsbooks is FanDuel. Its Troy, Michigan, sportsbook is branded in partnership with DraftKings.
The five other full-service sportsbooks in D.C. are: Ceasars at Capital One Arena; BetMGM at National Park; FanDuel at Audi Field and independent sportbooks at Grand Central Restaurant, Bar & Sportsbook in Adams Morgan and Cloakroom Gentlemen’s Club at 476 K St. NW.
Grand Central has also filed an application to open a second sportsbook at H Street Northeast in partnership with its current technology vendor, Elys Game Technology.
