Mirroring the nationwide trend for April, the Virginia Lottery reported a notable dip in sports betting handle as more than $236.4 million was wagered across the commonwealth.
The total was 22.2% off March’s record handle of nearly $304.1 million, a figure that was greatly aided by the NCAA tournament. Unibet became the seventh operator to launch in Virginia during April, joining FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, BetRivers, William Hill, and WynnBET.
The seven operators combined for more than $19.4 million in gross gaming revenue, resulting in a hold of 8.22%. After factoring in promotional play and carryover deductions, however, the adjusted gross revenue totaled slightly less than $11.4 million as four operators contributed to the nearly $1.7 million in tax receipts for the state.
The GGR total was 26.8% lower than March’s figure of nearly $26.6 million, while the AGR represented a 17.8% decline from the $13.8 million the state could tax the prior month.
The $5.5 million in promotional revenue was the lowest total in any of the four months since launch and barely more than half the $10.3 million in March. As the operators become more established in a new market, promotional play tends to lessen, though there has been nearly $35.9 million in such revenue since betting was available.
The Virginia Lottery does not disclose handle and revenue on a per operator basis.
Even with the falloff from March, Virginia next month will clear $1 billion in cumulative handle, as it has generated close to $865.2 million in wagers through its first four months. In the closest like-to-like comparison of states recently launching sports betting post-pandemic, Virginia has outpaced Tennessee, which began accepting bets Nov. 1 and generated $699.4 million in handle spanning its first four months.
Both Tennessee and Virginia currently only accept bets online, though multiple cities across Virginia are in the process of building and/or approving casinos.
