The Virginia Lottery reported sports wagering handle of nearly $470 million for March on Friday, the second-highest total in the 15 months of operation.
The Old Dominion has produced $4.5 billion in overall handle since accepting its first bets in late January 2021. March’s handle represented a 16.8% improvement from February’s $401.9 million while placing behind January’s all-time high of $485.5 million. The figure also was 54.4% higher than March 2021, as a regularly played NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 likely drew increased attention and betting action.
Running Top 10 #SportsBetting handle for March by state:
1 New York: $1.64B
2 New Jersey: $1.12B
3 Nevada: $862.8M
4 Pennsylvania: $714.98M
5 Colorado: $505.6M
6 Michigan: $477.97M
7 Indiana: $476.8M
8 VIRGINIA: $469.5M <—NEW
9 Tennessee: $370.2M
10 Iowa: $233.5M— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) April 29, 2022
There are currently 12 operators accepting bets in the digital-only state, with Hard Rock the latest to enter on March 31.
Gross operator revenue totaled $33.7 million, the third-highest monthly total in state history and a 22.6% improvement from February. Operator win rate was 7.2% for March, slightly higher than February but more than 1.5 percentage points lower than March 2021, when operators collected close to $26.6 million in gross revenue.
Promotional play was again strong, with more than $14.1 million in credits distributed by operators. That was actually 10.8% lower than February’s total of $15.8 million, but also marked the seventh consecutive month operators shelled out at least $14 million in promotional credits.
After additional deductions of nearly $5.3 million were claimed, the state was able to levy a 15% tax on $14.3 million in adjusted revenue for March. Five operators finished with a net positive AGR as the state collected more than $2.1 million in tax receipts from that quintet. The Virginia Lottery does not disclose handle and revenue information by either operator or sport category.
Promo credits digging into taxable revenue
Running Top 10 #SportsBetting AGR/GGR Rank for March by state:
1/1 New York $114.96M
2/2 New Jersey $66.4M
3/4 Nevada $36.9M
4/7 Indiana $32.3M
5/3 Pennsylvania $30.4M
6/8 Louisiana $30.1M
7/10 Tennessee $22.8M
8/6 Michigan $16.6M
9/11 Iowa $14.4M
10/5 VIRGINIA $14.3M <—NEW— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) April 29, 2022
The amount of promotional credits an operator can claim varies from state to state, but Virginia has one of the lowest percentages when it comes to adjusted revenue as a percentage of gross operator revenue. In the first three months of 2022, barely 40% of the $100.2 million in gross revenue was eligible to be taxed by the state.
Promotional credits represent more than three-quarters of the nearly $60 million spread between gross and adjusted revenue, with other monthly deductions accounting for just over $13 million. Since launch, Virginia has been able to tax approximately four out of every nine dollars of gross revenue generated by operators, with promotional credits totaling more than $169 million — an average of more than $11 million each month.
Despite all the deductions, Virginia collected $6.4 million in tax receipts for the first quarter of 2022, which was nearly $4.9 million more than the state collected in January through March of 2021. During that period last year, operators were aggressively courting new bettors, resulting in overall negative adjusted revenue of nearly $6.5 million in January and February 2021 combined.
