The Virginia Lottery reported sports betting operator revenue of more than $48.3 million for November on Thursday, setting an all-time record since launch and furthering the trend of what will be a record month of profits for sportsbooks nationwide.
The November revenue total easily outpaced the previous record of $30.9 million established in September, while the $402.6 million in wagers placed behind only October’s handle of $427.3 million. For the fourth time this year, operator win rate surpassed 10%, with the 12.01% on gross revenue the second-highest recorded behind the 12.33% posted in July.
Top 10 #SportsBetting Handle by state, 2021 YTD (Nov in CAPS):
1 #NEWJERSEY: $9.706B
2 #NEVADA: $7.133B
3 #PENNSYLVANIA: $5.802B
4 #Illinois: $5.452B
5 #MICHIGAN: $3.451B
6 #INDIANA: $3.366B
7 #Colorado: $2.911B
8 #VIRGINIA: $2.795B
9 #Tennessee: $2.023B
10 #IOWA: $1.775B— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) December 30, 2021
Amazingly, the 12.01% hold ranks just 10th among the 18 states and jurisdictions that have published reports for November thus far. Nationally, gross operator revenue has cleared $500 million in a month for the first time in the post-PASPA era dating to May 2018, and the $67.6 million states have reaped in taxes from November wagering is also a high.
Though there was again a substantial amount of promotional revenue for the state’s operators — Bally Bet entered in November to become the 10th — at just shy of $15 million, the banner month for the house led to a record for adjusted gaming revenue with more than $29.9 million. That nearly doubled the previous high of close to $15.7 million established in July.
With the record adjusted revenue came record tax receipts for the commonwealth, which added more than $4.2 million to state coffers in November. That amount represents nearly 23% of the $18.6 million collected since launching at the start of the year.
Taxable revenue comes from four operators
The Virginia Lottery does not break out handle and revenue by operator in its release, but it did note that just four of the 10 operators finished with net positive AGR. The adjusted revenue represented 61.9% of the gross revenue in November, up from 32.5% in October and the highest percentage since accounting for 63.6% in July.
Despite the sharp month-over-month increase, only 47.5% ($120.7 million) of the overall $254.4 million in operator revenue since launch has been eligible for taxation. More than $105 million has been direct promotional play, while monthly adjustments have accounted for close to $29 million since the state began accepting bets in late January.
