The late fall/early winter months are some of the best for sports betting and Virginia is no exception.
The Virginia Lottery announced that statewide operators accepted $760.9 million in wagers for November, a new all-time high. This is the first time handle exceeded $700 million in a single month.
After two straight months of record highs, this may be the peak for Virginia in 2024. In 2023 and 2022, November was the best month. January, with the NFL playoffs, should report an even stronger handle before things start to decrease.
Compared to November 2024, this month saw 19% more action. That, combined with an 11.3% hold means it was a good month for the operators and the legislature. After considering deductions, the adjusted gross revenue came in at $80 million, a 63% monthly increase. The tax bill came in at $12.1 million.
Mobile betting is still the dominate form of wagering in Virginia with less than 1% of the action coming from the brick-and-mortar locations.
| November 2024 | Online | Retail |
|---|---|---|
| Sports betting handle | $756.7 million | $4.2 million |
| Adjusted gross revenue | $79.9 million | $666,000 |
With new highs in betting, there was plenty of action to go around. Of the 12 betting sites allowed to operate in Virginia, 10 reported a profit in November.
FanDuel top dog in Virginia
From January to September of 2024, there were 16 sportsbooks accepting bets, but the most popular three (FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM) accounted for more than 78% of all the action.
FanDuel owned the most market share with 39.1%. On the other end, Bally's (0.21%) and Betr (0.02%) are the only operators below 1% that are still accepting wagers. The other five have pulled out.
| Operators | Market share |
|---|---|
| FanDuel | 39.1% |
| DraftKings | 28.4% |
| BetMGM | 10.7% |
| Bet365 | 5.5% |
| Caesars | 5.4% |
| ESPN BET | 4% |
| BetRivers | 2.1% |
| Bet Fanatics | 1.9% |
| Hard Rock | 1.8% |
| Bally Bet | 0.2% |
| Betr | 0.02% |
Rivers Casino sees most revenue
While Virginia Lottery doesn’t report the Virginia sports betting numbers by location, their other revenue sources point to Rivers Casino in Portsmouth as the top dog.
The Rivers Casino contributed 40% of the statewide revenue in combined slots and table games. And in each category they saw the most revenue.
Hard Rock Bristol was a close second in slots, while the Caesars casino was second in table games.
