New Year, New Record: Virginia Sports Betting Reaches Record Levels In January
Virginia’s sportsbooks collected nearly $500 million in wagers in January, topping the previous record by more than 13%.
A fresh round of records made for an apt end to a football season that pushed the commonwealth’s industry to new heights, according to Play Virginia, which tracks Virginia’s sports betting market.
“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 play-virginia.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 $485.5 million in wagers into Virginia’s sportsbooks in January, shattering the record $427.3 million in wagers produced in October, according to data released Tuesday by the Virginia Lottery.
January’s wagers were up 13.8% from $426.6 million in December, too, while the daily wagering average grew to $15.7 million per day over the 31 days of January from $13.8 million per day in December.
| Month | Handle | GGR | Hold % | Promos | Other deductions | AGR | Taxes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2022 | $401,889,135 | $27,498,133 | 6.8% | $15,816,234 | $3,797,649 | $7,884,250 | $7,884,250 |
| January 2022 | $485,544,417 | $39,050,067 | 8.0% | $16,850,981 | $3,978,519 | $18,220,567 | $2,876,609 |
| December 2021 | $426,596,891 | $31,515,015 | 7.4% | $17,051,709 | $4,339,908 | $10,123,398 | $1,729,130 |
| November 2021 | $402,621,132 | $48,337,037 | 12.0% | $14,993,073 | $3,417,267 | $29,926,697 | $4,233,167 |
| October 2021 | $427,320,306 | $30,160,385 | 7.1% | $15,805,261 | $4,569,424 | $9,785,700 | $1,746,204 |
| September 2021 | $293,851,531 | $30,929,243 | 10.5% | $17,422,068 | $3,172,781 | $10,334,395 | $1,557,498 |
| August 2021 | $182,418,252 | $17,967,427 | 9.9% | $6,868,639 | $2,410,724 | $8,688,064 | $1,378,539 |
| July 2021 | $161,901,955 | $19,965,556 | 12.3% | $4,375,872 | $2,898,664 | $12,691,020 | $1,864,433 |
| June 2021 | $234,943,435 | $22,006,296 | 9.4% | $4,983,544 | $2,125,855 | $14,896,898 | $2,273,995 |
| May 2021 | $226,963,573 | $23,173,549 | 10.2% | $5,168,732 | $2,341,616 | $15,663,201 | $2,381,115 |
| April 2021 | $236,432,523 | $19,442,317 | 8.2% | $5,529,294 | $2,532,886 | $11,380,137 | $1,652,147 |
| March 2021 | $304,066,245 | $26,573,877 | 8.7% | $10,340,533 | $2,388,332 | $13,845,012 | $1,183,487 |
| February 2021 | $265,778,306 | $12,238,730 | 4.6% | $13,187,560 | $2,282,972 | ($3,231,752) | $300,594 |
| January 2021 | $58,896,564 | $3,586,077 | 6.1% | $6,343,077 | $478,612 | ($3,235,612) | $39,710 |
| Total | $4,109,224,266 | $352,443,759 | 8.6% | $154,736,576 | $40,735,209 | $156,971,974 | $24,622,911 |
Sportsbooks won $39.1 million in gross revenue, second-best all-time for Virginia and up from $31.5 million in December.
After $16.9 million in promotional spending and $4 million in other deductions, sportsbooks produced $18.2 million in taxable revenue. That yielded $2.9 million 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 Jan. 21, 2021. During the market’s first 11 days sportsbooks generated $5.4 million in wagers per day, generating $3.6 million in revenue on $58.9 million in January 2021.
“Virginia’s sportsbooks still have significant room for growth,” said Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes play-virginia.com. “Over the last five months, sportsbooks 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.”
For more information and analysis on regulated sports betting in Virginia, visit play-virginia.com/revenue.
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