What a difference a year makes for the sports betting operators in the Mountaineer State.
The West Virginia Lottery announced January revenue of $6 million, up 65% year-over-year. Sportsbooks got off to a slow start in 2023, gaining less than $4 million to kick off the year.
A 13% hold, one of the 10-best all-time in the Mountaineer State, greeted operators in 2024, despite the January handle being down nearly 4% year-over-year.
West Virginia took in $46.4 million in wagers for the first month of 2024. With less NFL and college football to bring in bets, the handle dropped of 24% from December. However, profits still jumped nearly 13% in January.
The increased revenue spawned a much larger year-over-year share for the Mountaineer State as $512,136 of tax revenue was paid out by operators.
Online sports betting sites, tied to retail sportsbooks, generated $41.3 million of the overall handle and all but $515,000 of the revenue. Brick-and-mortar sportsbooks accepted $5.1 million in wagers for January.
FanDuel and BetMGM lead the way
The Greenbrier, which is tethered with FanDuel and BetMGM, led all West Virginia online sportsbooks with a handle of $20 million. Backed by a 16.5% hold, revenue reached a state-high $3.3 million.
Hollywood Casino at Charles Town’s partners DraftKings, Fanatics Sportsbook, and ESPN BET combined to bring in a handle just slightly less at $18.3 million. The trio’s hold of 11.3% generated $2.1 million in revenue.
Mountaineer Casino, partnered with Caesars and BetRivers, produced a handle of $2.7 million and $137,000 of revenue.
West Virginia’s five retail sportsbooks all finished in the black in January with Charles Town leading the way in handle with $2.9 million of wagers accepted.
iGaming revenue rises
It was another good month for iGaming in West Virginia. Online casinos produced $14.9 million of revenue, up from the $14.8 million made in December and second-best ever in the Mountaineer State.
The Greenbrier's partners generated $6.4 million in profit while Charles Town's tethers brought in $6.2 million of revenue in January.
