Unibet Sportsbook leaves Virginia
With only 0.15% of the market share in Virginia sports betting market during 2023, Unibet Sportsbook has announced it will leave the state in March.
Unibet Interactive’s parent company Kindred Group PLC announced last year they plan to leave the overall U.S. and Canadian gambling market. During its Jan. 10 board meeting, the Virginia Lottery announced Unibet will leave the state in March. The board said they are working with Unibet on their closing plan.
In addition to leaving the U.S. and Canadian markets, Unibet’s parent company Kindred announced on Monday they have received a $2.67 billion buyout offer from French gambling giant La Fran?aise des Jeux (FDJ) to acquire the online betting company.
Based in Valletta, Malta, Kindred is an online gambling operator with nine brands in the industry, Unibet Sportsbook being one of them. The mobile/online sportsbook went live in Virginia in April 2021.
Unibet is the second online sportsbook to leave Virginia following WynnBET. The lottery board said during the Jan. 10 meeting that WSI US, LLC (operating as WynnBET) has completed its closure in Virginia that started in August.
In 2022, Kindred pulled Unibet Sportsbook from Iowa so it could focus on states that provide iGaming (online casinos). That move did not help the company.
Meanwhile, Kindred says Unibet has regained its position as the number one operator in the Netherlands and the company continues to deliver above-market growth in the U.K.
The acceptance period for the $2.67 billion buyout offer from France’s FDJ is expected to commence on Feb. 20 and expire on Nov. 19. The deal would help FDJ gain access to Kindred’s customer base across Europe and Australia.
In the meantime, Virginia’s sports betting market continues to grow among operators, according to market share numbers provided by the Virginia Lottery.
Virginia’s November Sports Betting Numbers Break Records
Based on market share numbers between January 2023 and November 2023, FanDuel leads the state holding approximately 40% market share ahead of DraftKings with 28%.
Virginia sports wagering operators hit a new record high in November handling over $638.83 million from bettors in the state. That’s an increase of 11.8% from October (about $571.355 million) and a jump of 23.1% from November 2022 ($518.8 million), according to the Virginia Lottery’s sports wagering activity report.
As expected, the majority of November’s handle, $632 million, came from online betting. Three retail sportsbooks located at casinos in the state handled $6 million for the month.
There are currently 16 online sportsbooks available in Virginia:
- Bally Bet Sportsbook
- Bet365
- BetFred Sportsbook
- BetMGM Sportsbook
- Betr
- BetRivers Sportsbook (retail location at Rivers Casino Portsmouth)
- Betway Virginia
- Caesars Sportsbook (retail location at Caesars Virginia)
- DraftKings Sportsbook
- ESPN BET
- Fanatics Sportsbook
- FanDuel Sportsbook
- Hard Rock Bet (retail location at Hard Rock Bristol Casino)
- SI Sportsbook
- Superbook Sportsbook
- Unibet
