A loss of football could’ve led to a loss in legal sports betting revenue in West Virginia.
The Mountaineer State suffered a 15% drop in handle in January compared to December 2022. Revenue was also nearly cut in half, going from $7.5 million in the final month of last year to just $3.6 million to kick off 2023, according to January figures released by the West Virginia Lottery.
West Virginia sports betting operators still enjoyed an 8.1% hold, but with just a smattering of college football games and just two full-slate Sundays in January, the NFL playoffs, college basketball, and the NBA weren’t enough to produce bigger numbers. However, that didn’t seem to affect last year.
The handle was down more than $14 million year-over-year in January, and this year’s revenue was shy of 2022’s $4 million profit by about $600,000. The state hauled in $311,000 in taxes in the first month of 2023.
Retail struggles, mobile thrives
Retail sportsbooks took their worst-ever loss of $153,000 on a handle of $6.3 million across the state in January. Mountaineer Casino claimed over $248,000 in losses while Wheeling Casino dropped around $58,000.
Online sports betting sites, however, made up for it. The Mountaineer State took in $38.5 million via mobile wagers with a revenue of $3.8 million. The Greenbrier, which uses FanDuel, BetMGM, and Golden Nugget for online operations, made up nearly $2.4 million of that revenue alone and enjoyed a handle of $17.5 million for a healthy hold of over 13%.
Charles Town — which uses DraftKings, Barstool, and PointsBet — made $1.3 million in mobile on a handle of $18.2 million.
Mountaineer, which is operated by BetRivers and Caesars, helped offset its retail losses with a mobile profit of $113,573 for a hold of nearly 5%.
