Add 888 and Betway to the list of approved Virginia sports betting sites as the Virginia Lottery continues to work toward approving all licensees.
The Lottery posted approvals for Digital Gaming Corporation VA as of last Wednesday and VHL, VA as of Thursday.
Digital Gaming is the corporate name for Betway, which is already live in five states. According to Virginia’s business lookup, VHL VA’s principal office is the same address listed by 888 Holdings in Gibraltar.
The approvals mean there are just two unannounced mobile-only VA sportsbooks left. PointsBet, working with Colonial Downs, was the first operator announced as a winner of one of the five licenses earlier this month.
Which VA sportsbooks are live?
There are 10 online Virginia sportsbooks live in the state, with the most recent launch coming just last week.
The first five came quickly, with all of them live in time for Super Bowl betting:
- FanDuel Sportsbook
- DraftKings Sportsbook
- BetMGM
- BetRivers
- Caesars Sportsbook
There were then just three launches between the Super Bowl and kickoff of the 2021 NFL season:
- WynnBET: launched in March
- Unibet: launched in April
- Barstool Sportsbook: launched in August
The last two launched in the middle of football season:
- Golden Nugget: launched in October
- Bally Bet: launched last Wednesday
That leaves just the three operators approved in November, as well as the other two unknown license winners as the only sportsbooks not live in Virginia.
Next few months critical for new sportsbooks
It cannot be overstated just how important NFL betting and March Madness betting will be for these new operators – and even some of the existing ones.
The five sportsbooks that started before the Super Bowl in February accounted for 98.1% of all handle from launch through September, according to a Virginia Lottery report from October.
One positive for new books entering the market is that Virginia allows operators to deduct promotional spending from taxable sports betting revenue. That will be a big help to launch enticing promos during two of the most important customer acquisition periods in US sports betting.
