The Virginia Lottery reported sports wagering handle of nearly $513.2 million for January on Wednesday, the fourth consecutive month the Old Dominion crossed the half-billion dollar threshold.
It was the third-largest handle in 25 months of wagering in Virginia, trailing only the $528 million last October and $518.8 million the following month. January’s handle was 2% higher than December’s $503.1 million and a 5.7% improvement on the $485.5 million in accepted wagers to start 2022.
Operators cooled off slightly, combining for a statewide hold just shy of 9.7% to claim $49.7 million in gross revenue. It was just the second time in six months the hold slipped below double digits, but the statewide win rate on gross revenue in Virginia has been 9% or higher in nine of the last 10 months.
Gross revenue was down 1.9% from December but also up 27.3% compared to the same period last year. After deductions and promotional spend, the state could levy its 15% tax on $42.1 million in adjusted gross revenue. That was a decline of 10.4% versus December but more than double the $18.2 million from January 2022, as the percentage of taxable revenue surged from 46.7% last year to 84.7% this year.
The state collected close to $6.4 million in tax receipts to start the year, lifting the all-time total since launch to just shy of $78.5 million. Nearly 55% of that amount has come in the seven months since the budget amendment took effect prohibiting deductions by operators that have conducted sports wagering in the state for more than 12 months. A bill that would have allowed mobile operators to exclude up to 1.75% of their handle was tabled last month in state legislature.
Non-promo deductions jump to $6.8 million
All-time Top 10 #SportsBetting handles post-PASPA (Jan in CAPS)
1 NEW JERSEY $34.8B
2 NEVADA $30.4B
3 PENNSYLVANIA $19.66B
4 Illinois $18.7B
5 NEW YORK $18.45B
6 INDIANA $10.93B
7 Colorado $10.2B
8 MICHIGAN $9.4B9 VIRGINIA $8.65B <-NEW
10 TENNESSEE $7.3B#GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) March 1, 2023
The Virginia Lottery does not disclose handle and revenue information by operator, but it does disclose total promotional spend and other deductions. The allowable promotions and bonuses for January totaled nearly $770,000, with Betfred and Hard Rock likely providing the bulk of that amount as the former launched operations in late December and the latter still is in its first 12 months of operations.
Deductions, which include negative adjusted gross revenue carryover allowed for operators, more than doubled from December to more than $6.8 million. That is the highest monthly total recorded since launch and could mean a mobile operator or operators had a rough January considering the combined total of AGR carryover among operators from December to January was just shy of $775,000.
The Virginia Lottery reported 10 mobile operators finished with positive AGR in January that could require tax payments on their part.
