-
Casinos for you
Virginia Off to a Shining Start with a $256m First-Month Sports Betting Handle
By Jeff Osienya Apr 07, 2021 IndustrySports bettors in the Old Dominion spent over $256 million on sports bets in February to shine a spotlight on the state as it saw the second-best first full month handle. Michigan sits at the throne with a $301 million entry.The Commonwealth of Virginia is off to a winning start after generating a handle of $256.8 million from its first full month of mobile online-only sports betting in February. The numbers were released by the Virginia Lottery last Thursday, disclosing that the Commonwealth’s debut month was boosted by the Super Bowl showdown, one of the biggest sporting events USA’s annual sports calendar. The Big game alone contributed to more than 7% of the combined handle after bringing in a total of $19.56 million worth of wagers.
Of the $256 million handle, operators in the Old Dominion garnered a GGR (gross gaming revenue) of over $12.2 million. However, the Virginia Lottery report pointed out that the win was dampened by the promotion-heavy month where about $13.2 million worth of bonus deals were offered by the state’s five sports betting platforms.
After factoring in a range of other deductions, the books were left with a $3.2 million loss in AGR (adjusted gaming receipts) – almost the same as that of January which saw a $59 million handle from only 11 days of action after a mid-month debut. Given that the Old Dominion's taxman collects on the AGR, the operators collectively parted with $3000,593 for the state’s tax coffers. Looking at the mean daily handle, February’s figures nearly doubled January’s showing, as sports bettors in Virginia spent an average of $9.5 million each day, compared to January’s daily average of $5.4 million in wagers.
Impressive Start but Not Strong Enough to Outshine Michigan
As tremendous as Virginia’s performance was, however, it wasn’t enough to best Michigan’s first full month handle which incidentally was also in February. For that same month, the Wolverine State racked up a $301 million handle, to make it the only state to cross the 300 million mark in the first full month of online sports betting.
Combined with retail sports betting, from three casino sportsbooks in Detroit, Michigan sports bettors spent a total of $325.6 million on sports in February. Effectively, this puts the Old Dominion at position two in the rankings of highest handle for the first full month of sports betting for all US states that have gone live with the activity.
Once again, like Virginia, the Wolverine State also had a mid-month launch in January, with the market going live a day after the former. Michigan ended up collecting a total of $115 million in wagers from 10 days of online sports betting in January, nearly double the $59 million that Virginia sports bettors spent after 11 days of operations over the same month.
The Old Dominion is Still One to Watch in USA’s Sports Betting Sector
Well, comparing the two markets, we have to give it to the Old Dominion as for now, it is a far inferior contender when pitted against Michigan, yet it managed to hold its own against the giant, better than any other state.
For starters, in February, Virginia only had five sportsbook operators taking bets, namely, Fanduel, DraftKings, BetMGM, BetRivers, and the recently launched William Hill. Michigan on the other hand had a flying start with a total of 12 online sportsbooks by the end of February, meaning that sports bettors there had more than twice the number of operator choices for placing wagers.
Furthermore, the Wolverine state has a slightly bigger population, with about 2 million more adults eligible for gambling in the state compared to the Old Dominion. If we then factor in the fact that the Wolverine State has three retail sports betting facilities against Virginia’s naught, it is easy to see how the former was hard to beat despite the latter’s superb launch.
Fortunately, Virginia is working to right some of the wrongs that held it back in February. For one, voters already approved the construction of brick-and-mortar casinos in the cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, Danville, and Bristol, whereas one more city, Richmond is waiting for a ballot approval this November for the same.
Additionally, WynBET from Wynn Sports Interactive has already joined the five operational online bookmakers in the state, with three more sportsbook operators; Penn Interactive’s Barstool, Bally’s Bets, and Golden Nugget are already preparing for entry. This will bring the total number of operators in Virginia to 9, to make it a more attractive market for sports fans. With that in mind, let’s wait and see how these two will fare against each other in the coming months.
You might also like