In its first full month of legal sports betting, Virginia posted a total sports handle of $265.8 million in February.

Virginia launched on Jan. 21 and had $58.9 million in the first 11 days of online sports betting. For now, Virginia has only online sports wagering and no retail sportsbooks.

The Virginia online market compares favorably to another state that launched in late January (Jan. 22) — Michigan. Michigan’s first full month of online sports betting saw an online handle of $301.8 million and a retail handle of $23.7 million for $325.5 million in total sports handle for February.

Of the $265.8 million in February, Virginia bettors won $253.5 million. Virginia bookmakers had 4.6% hold, but gave away $13.2 million in promotions and bonuses, and also had more than $2.3 million in other deductions. The adjusted gross revenue was in the red for the month at minus $3.2 million.

Virginia’s total puts it seventh nationally, just behind Colorado, which had $266.5 million in total handle in February. But Colorado’s sports betting market has been live since last May 1. Illinois still has to report February sports betting figures.

What is also impressive about Virginia's total is that February is a shorter month with one less weekend of sports betting.

Nearly $20M bet on Super Bowl 55 in VA

Betting on the Feb. 7 Super Bowl, won 31-9 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the Kansas City Chiefs, was $19.5 million, about 7.3% of total wagers for the month.

The state collected $300,593 in taxes, according to the report, with $293,079 going to the state’s General Fund and $7,514 earmarked for the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund. Of the 15% tax on sports betting AGR in Virginia, 97.5% goes to the state’s General Fund and 2.5% goes to the problem gambling fund administered by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health.

The five licensed operators in February in Virginia were Betfair Interactive US, LLC (FanDuel); Crown Virginia Gaming, LLC (DraftKings), BetMGM, Portsmouth Gaming Holdings, LLC (Rivers Casino Portsmouth) and Caesars Virginia, LLC (William Hill).

More VA Operators on the Way

WynnBET became the sixth operator to launch in the state. It was approved on March 4 and went live on March 12, just before March Madness began. The Virginia Lottery has also approved three more operators — Golden Nugget, Bally’s Corp. and Penn National Gaming (Barstool Sportsbook). They have not announced when they will launch.

Legislation has also passed through the state House and Senate to add more operators and allow betting on the Olympics. It was signed into law by Gov. Ralph Northam last week and will go into effect on July 1.

The new law separates mobile sportsbooks’ operator licenses from casino licenses — which had fallen into the same category. There could be five casinos with sportsbooks. With the new legislation, there could be 18 sportsbooks or more in the state based on the new law. The previous law accounted for 12 sportsbook licenses.

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