Capital One Arena, home of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals, will become the first pro sports venue to have betting within its walls.
While betting kiosks have been quite popular all over the world, we have yet to see one in the United States – until now. William Hill, which runs betting parlors in the United Kingdom – and now more recently here in the United States – will operate the facility in Washington, D.C.
“We rent to McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts and now William Hill,” said Ted Leonsis, the executive of Monumental Sports, which owns the arena and its two main tenants, the Capitals and Wizards.
Nothing has been finalized on when D.C. residents will be able to start placing bets at Capital One Arena, but it shouldn’t be too long.
“I don’t really have a good feel for how long that might take,” said Joe Asher, the chief executive of William Hill U.S. “You would bet on sometime in 2020. We’ll let the regulatory process play itself out.”
Still Issues
There are some issues that could arise, however. The Georgetown Hoyas basketball team plays its home games at Capital One Arena, and it’s still unclear if D.C. will allow betting to take place on those games. The NCAA has always been against sports betting (or any type of fun) for several years now and hasn’t loosened up on its stance since all of these states have adjusted with the times.
Some states have even gone as far as to prohibit betting on college games involving the home state that the bet is placed in.
“It’s not like gambling isn’t happening in an unregulated world,” Leonsis said. “There’s a lot of gambling today off the books, that’s not creating jobs.”
It’s possible that the betting parlors could just be closed during those Georgetown games. Even if the betting parlor is closed during the game, fans would still be able to be log on to their mobile devices and place their bets that way.
However, officials have said they expect to a geolocation technology that only allows bettors to use the William Hill app when inside the arena, and not the apps of its competitors.
The parlor would be “great for the arena, great for the league,” Leonsis said. He also made light of the fact that it’s commonplace for the United Kingdom to have betting parlors inside its arenas and stadiums, and “there’s nothing untoward or unfriendly about it.”
While the idea of placing in-game bets is certainly the intended goal, the betting parlor will also stay open after live games so that bettors can wager on the West Coast games.
Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, has always been known as a forward-thinking type of person and wrote an opinion column for the New York Times back in 2014, asking people to open their eyes to the idea of legalizing sports betting.
He and Leonsis have talked about sports betting being similar to the stock market, whereas this isn’t necessarily “gambling,” and you could use wisdom and statistical analysis in order to gain an advantage.
