Jeffrey DeWitt

WASHINGTON — How soon people can place legal sports bets in D.C. will depend on how city lawmakers decide to handle the March 2020 expiration of the D.C. Lottery contract.

D.C. officials on Monday defended efforts to award a sole-source contract to run the city’s upcoming sports gambling program, insisting that the normal competitive bidding process would delay legal bettingand cost the city tens of millions…

The District’s chief financial officer said Monday that online sports gambling could begin as early as this fall. Bettors could wage phone-based bets on outcomes and performances of both pro and college sporting events.

Attendees of a D.C. Council breakfast on January 7 could’ve heard a pin drop as Chairman Phil Mendelson moved to wrap things up and begin the legislative session.

An end to the partial U.S. government shutdown is finally in sight—at least a temporary one—but the longest government closure in American history has already done major damage to the local economy. On Friday morning, D.C. government and…