Virginia Sports Betting Has Record March Collecting $304M in Wagers
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Virginia sports betting is in a similar place to Michigan, with March being only its second full month ever of online sports wagering. However, in this second full month, there are already ridiculously promising numbers coming in. These numbers are surpassing more established states left and right. According to the Virginia Lottery’s release on Friday, April 30th, the state collected $304,066,245 worth of wagers in March. This total handle beats out Colorado, who has been a sports betting powerhouse for almost a year now.
Sportsbooks in the state came out with an 8.74% hold on those wagers, meaning that the public won roughly $277 million on those $304 million wagered. This is solid for both operators and the state, as the more money operators bring in, the higher the tax revenue will be.
It is also important to note that Virginia did this with only six operators, FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, BetRivers, William Hill, and WynnBet. All of the states with similar handles, Michigan, Colorado, and Indiana, have more sportsbooks than Virginia.
The total adjusted gross revenue for Virginia operators was $13.8 million. Virginia is nice enough to break down the exact calculations for their AGR. From the $304 million collected on wagers, players took home $277.5 million, promotions accounted for $10.3 million, and other deductions totaled $2.4 million. This left sportsbooks with $13.8 million in AGR.
The total tax collected was $1.18 million on the adjusted gross revenue, with $29K of that going to the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund. This was an extremely lucrative month for a relatively fresh sports betting state.
March Madness Boost
The Virginia release did not go into great detail of where the money went when it came to wagers, but it did note that $83 million was bet on March Madness, almost 30 percent of the total handle. This is actually quite surprising as Virginia does not allow collegiate wagers on individual prop-bets or in-state schools.
However, the March Madness boost is something we saw in virtually every single state, especially states that allow in-state collegiate betting and had schools in the tournament, i.e., Iowa. If Virginia did not come through, then its numbers this month would have looked very poor and similar to February.
This boost from March Madness is what allowed Virginia to stay at pace with other states. Now, without March Madness and the addition of Major League Baseball, it will be interesting to see if, once again, Virginia bettors continue to pump out record-breaking numbers.
Virginia Market
With only six sportsbooks live but more licenses available, it will be very intriguing to watch the Virginia Lottery closely. They have been very thorough with their licensing process, and we are waiting to hear about the next sportsbook to go live. Many project that the next sportsbook could be PointsBet or one of the British bookmakers like Bet365. A new sportsbook will surely drive up the handle a tick as it will come with fresh promos and fresh wagers.
