The Mountain State continued to feel the effects of less football to start 2023 with another drop in month-over-month legal sports betting numbers.
West Virginia Lottery reported a combined handle between retail and online sports betting sites of $39.7 million in February, which fell short of January’s $44 million.
In a short month and with the Super Bowl being the only pigskin to wager on, revenue fell around $800,000 from January and below $3 million in February.
The hold dropped an entire point from 8.1% the previous month to 7% in February, and the state hauled in nearly $237,000 in taxes from the revenue.
Sports betting in West Virginia saw similar drops last year as football wrapped up, but this year was steeper. Year-over-year wagers were down $10 million in 2023.
Retail gets crushed
It was a strong month for sports bettors who placed brick-and-mortar wagers in February. They handed the retail sportsbooks a $567,000 loss at the five combined casinos, marking the second consecutive month of deflating numbers for the sportsbooks.
Mountaineer Casino got hammered with a loss of $288,000 on a handle of $473,000, making it the second consecutive month it’s posted a deficit in retail.
Hollywood Casino at Charlestown reported a retail loss of nearly $400,000, with only Mardi Gras and The Greenbrier casinos reporting positive returns on retail.
Mobile fares better
It wasn’t a complete loss for West Virginia as the sportsbooks came out in the black from online wagers. The Mountain State reported $35.4 million in mobile handle for February with revenue of over $3 million. The nearly 10% hold stayed on par with the previous month’s numbers.
The Greenbrier, which uses FanDuel, BetMGM, and Golden Nugget for online operations, held a substantial 14% hold on about $17 million in wagers.
Charlestown, which has partnerships with DraftKings, Barstool Sportsbook, and PointsBet, had a better month in mobile than retail, claiming a revenue of $720,000 on a handle of $16 million.
Mountaineer, which BetRivers and Caesars operate, made $172,800 profit on mobile wagers of over $1.8 million.
