According to the latest sports betting revenue numbers released on Friday, bettors in the Commonwealth of Virginia appear to be having trouble beating the books. In July, the 12 online sportsbooks posted another double-digit revenue hold that shows bettors are winning less and less in the Old Dominion.
The Virginia Lottery released its monthly report on sports wagering activity on Friday showing revenue earned in July. Between July 1 and July 31, bettors in Virginia wagered over $377.6 million on sports, 28.6% higher than last July. The sportsbooks awarded over $332.6 million to winning bettors for the month and held a combined 11.91% of the leftovers. This is the fourth consecutive July of double-digit revenue held by operators.
The summer months have always been known as a slow period for sports betting with Major League Baseball leading the action. During a Gaming Update meeting earlier this month, the Virginia Lottery provided data that showed professional basketball was the most popular bet in the Old Dominion between January and June 2024. Tennis (11%), baseball (9%), and college football (8%) followed behind professional basketball at 24%. Currently, bettors are tackling college football games awaiting the start of the NFL football season on Sept. 5.
Virginia state law places a 15% tax on sports betting activity based on a sportsbook operator’s adjusted gross revenue (AGR). AGR is defined as total wagers minus total winnings and other authorized deductions. For July, sports wagering services paid $6.1 million in taxes to the state.
As expected, each month online/mobile sports wagering leads the market generating over $376 million in bets. Virginia currently has 12 online sports wagering services in the state; Bally Bet, bet365, BetFred Sports, BetMGM, Betr Sportsbook, BetRivers Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, ESPN BET, Fanatics Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, and Hard Rock Bet.
Virginia launched online sports betting in January 2021. There are no legal online casinos available in the state. Also known as iGaming, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Delaware are the only U.S. states with legal online casino gaming.
According to a recent American Gaming Association study, Americans have spent nearly $338 billion with “illegal” iGaming operators in foreign countries. The illegal services provide U.S. gamblers access to table games like roulette, poker, blackjack, and online slots, to name a few. However, these Internet sites lack consumer protections demanding this type of entertainment.
FanDuel is the leader in Virginia sports betting, holding 39.91% of the market share with DraftKings following at 27.44%. Betr Sportsbook completes the list of 12 with only 0.02% market share in Virginia.
Three retail sportsbooks in Virginia accounted for the rest of July’s revenue, handling over $1.6 million in bets. Retail in-person sports betting is available at Hard Rock’s Bristol Casino, Rivers Casino Portsmouth, and Caesars Virginia’s Danville Casino.
Since launching online sports betting in 2021, bettors in Virginia have wagered over $16 billion on sports. Virginia’s three land-based casinos combined have generated over $1 billion in revenue since July 2022.
