Sports betting operator William Hill US and Monumental Sports & Entertainment LLC have reached a partnership agreement that paves the way for the first betting operation at a U.S. professional sports venue.
The deal will result in William Hill operating within Capital One Arena, the home of the NHL Washington Capitals and the NBA Wizards, all of which are owned by Ted Leonsis' Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The former AOL executive's company operation also has a stake in NBC Sports Washington (US). The regional sports network was home to betting-oriented telecasts around the Wizards last season. The alternative feed ran on the networks' overflow channel and included on-screen statistics, odds and point spreads. Similar telecasts involving the NFL Redskins were in play during the club's 2019 preseason.
U.S. sports betting operations have sprung up in a dozen new states since May 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law that had limited sports betting to Nevada. William Hill's game plan calls for a sports book, or betting operation, to cover multiple floors within Capital One Arena, on a site previously occupied by a restaurant.
The venue will be open year-round on both game and nonevent days, with both ticketed and nonticketed fans able to access the betting operation during game days and certain in-arena events. Sports fans will also be able to wager on a William Hill mobile app inside the arena, as permitted by the Washington, D.C., regulations.
Neither party responded to queries seeking further comment by press time.
Construction could begin shortly. A spokesman for the office of the Chief Financial Officer for Washington, D.C., which has oversight for betting in the district, said a regulation governing sports betting licenses could pass by the end of October.
In addition to the Capital One Arena, the District of Columbia's law allows for sportsbooks to be licensed at the Nationals Park, home to Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals; Audi Field, where Major League Soccer's D.C. United play; and East Entertainment and Sports, the new home to the WNBA Mystics, which are also part of Monumental's sports portfolio.
William Hill earlier struck a pact to become the NBA's authorized sports betting operator in the U.S. Under the agreement, William Hill gains the right to use official NBA betting data and league marks across its mobile platforms and sports books across the U.S.
