SPORTS BETTING
US – Virginia’s sports betting off to a flier in 2022 as January sets new record
By Phil - 2 March 2022
Virginia’s sportsbooks collected nearly $500m in wagers in January, topping the previous record by more than 13 per cent. A fresh round of records made for an apt end to a football season that pushed the commonwealth’s industry to new heights.
“Five weekends of football, which included an extra week of regular season football and an expanded NFL playoffs, were unquestionably a boon for sportsbooks in January,” said Dann Stupp, lead analyst for PlayVirginia.com. “Sportsbooks will begin to slow down after March Madness. But the industry made a giant leap forward during the football season, and that has it on solid footing for the year ahead.”
Bettors poured $485.5m in wagers into Virginia’s sportsbooks in January, shattering the record $427.3m in wagers produced in October, according to data released Tuesday by the Virginia Lottery. January’s wagers were up 13.8 per cent from $426.6m in December, too, while the daily wagering average grew to $15.7m per day over the 31 days of January from $13.8m per day in December.
Sportsbooks won $39.1m in gross revenue, second-best all-time for Virginia and up from $31.5m in December. After $16.9m in promotional spending and $4m in other deductions, sportsbooks produced $18.2m in taxable revenue. That yielded $2.9m in state taxes.
The commonwealth is still too young for full-month, year-over year comparisons. But betting volume has more than doubled since Virginia launched sports betting on 21 January 2021. During the market’s first 11 days sportsbooks generated $5.4m in wagers per day, generating $3.6m in revenue on $58.9m in January 2021.
“Virginia’s sportsbooks still have significant room for growth,” said Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes PlayVirginia.com. “Over the last five months, operators have continued to expand their reach to new customers. But just as important, individual bettors are wagering more than a year ago as they become more familiar with the myriad products online sportsbooks are offering.”
