Council makes moves
The Council of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., is likely to make a provision to a British gambling law enacted during the reign of monarch Queen Anne that exempts sports betting from a $300m lawsuit.
The 18th-century Statute of Anne, which allows gamblers to sue to recover losses over $25, crossed the pond to the District of Columbia, where it has remained part of its city laws for decades.
major risk it posed to DC sports betting operators
The law was “seemingly unknown to generations of elected officials,” states The Washington Post, until a recent federal lawsuit filed this spring by a “mysterious Delaware-based LLC” drew attention for the major risk it posed to DC sports betting operators.
The mystery plaintiff is suing the sportsbook arms of BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, Fanatics, and FanDuel for $300m under the District’s version of the Statute of Anne.
The DC Council, however, is likely to vote next week to exempt sports betting from the 300-year-old law.
Plaintiffs cry foul
According to Legal Sports Betting, DC officials “moved quietly” to ensure DC Gambling Recovery LLC doesn’t reap hundreds of millions in its pursuit of the old British law.
Shortly after DC Gambling filed the suit in April, Mayor Muriel Bowser added a retroactive provision to DC’s upcoming budget that would exempt legalized sports betting from the law. On Monday, according to The Washington Post, DC officials could vote to change the Statute of Anne for the first time “by clarifying that the 18th-century law does not apply to legalized modern sports betting.”
The provision Mayor Bowser attached to DC’s approximate $22bn budget could, in turn, invalidate the DC Gambling suit in a blink.
The plaintiffs are not happy with the Council’s move and earlier this month sent a letter urging them to remove the retroactive provision from the budget, stating it would “depriv[e] the District of an opportunity to win well over $300 million in sorely needed revenue” should their suit win.
A win would require the plaintiff to split the damages in half with Washington, with DC Gambling attorneys estimating the windfall would swell the District’s coffers by over $300m.
Law out of time
While the plaintiffs’ attorneys argued that Judge Bowser’s provision “prioritizes the financial interests of gambling operators over the priorities of District residents,” their suit has little chance of success after intervention from the DC Attorney General’s Office.
Referencing legal filings for the case, reports cited DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb as stating he disagreed that the Statute of Anne was applicable to modern sports betting “and promised the court that the D.C. Council would soon clarify as much.”
Statue of Anne was archaic and insensible for the modern era
The founder of a trade group that also represents the sportsbooks getting sued in DC, Jeff Ifrah, was cited by the Post as stating the Statue of Anne was archaic and insensible for the modern era “and should have been amended a long time ago.”
