WASHINGTON — In July, DC’s first legal sportsbook opened inside the Capital One Arena Box Office. Now, another sportsbook could be put in Southeast DC nearly two years after the DC Council voted to legalize online and in-person sports gambling.
Developers have plans to open a business named “Handle 19” in the old ‘Stanton and Greene’ building on the 300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE.
The potential plans come after developers applied for an Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) license, and the hope would be that such a roll call hearing for the license would be approved in late October.
According to the ABRA meeting filing, Handle 19, "will be a restaurant offering traditional American food. Seating Capacity of 60 inside and a Total Occupancy Load of 199. The licensee is also applying to include Sports Wagering in their operations. There will be a total of 8 betting kiosks."
Hours of operation for the sportsbook restaurant would be Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m.
DC's ABRA leadership is meeting on a portion of the proposal Tuesday evening. No information or discussion of Handle 19 has come out of the meeting on the plan as of 10:30 p.m.
The process by ABRA does give people time to protests the development. A scheduled date of October 13 is the protest petition deadline, with a possible protest petition hearing scheduled for January 6, 2021.
WUSA9 will continue to provide updates on this story as more information comes into our newsroom.