Betway, SI Sportsbook Set To Join VA Sports Betting In Coming Weeks


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VA sports betting

Two more Virginia sportsbooks should launch in the next few weeks, even though one of them could at least partially start today.

SI Sportsbook planned to go live Wednesday morning but did not, Virginia Lottery Deputy Director of Gaming Compliance Gina Smith said at Wednesday’s board meeting. Google Play did not approve the SI Sportsbook app for launch so that is delayed until all platforms can go live at once.

Smith said SI Sportsbook should be live by next week. Betway, meanwhile, expects to launch as the 14th VA sportsbook May 18.

No more licenses for VA sports betting

There will not be another application period for sports betting next month as there are no more licenses available, Smith said.

The Lottery has not announced the winners of the final two mobile-only licenses. Those operators are working through the regulatory process at a slower pace by their choosing, Smith said.

Virginia’s fifth casino operator also will receive a sports betting license. The only way another license could be added at this point is if a professional sports team moves to Virginia.

FanDuel, DraftKings still lead, share down

Smith also reported handle and promo share by operator for the first quarter. While FanDuel and DraftKings still rank first and second respectively, both saw handle share drop compared to the last report which tracked handle from the January 2021 launch through November.

OperatorQ1 HandleQ1 Handle ShareJan-Nov ’21 ShareQ1 Promo Deductions
FanDuel Sportsbook$541,545,80139.91%42.69%$11,122,900
DraftKings Sportsbook$309,919,97322.84%26.77%$8,365,543
BetMGM$269,619,52119.87%17.82%$17,432,109
Caesars Sportsbook$131,485,3129.69%8.44%$5,000,632
Barstool Sportsbook$41,657,3693.07%2.00%$1,074,902
PointsBet$28,088,1942.07%N/A$1,962,865
BetRivers$16,825,7781.24%1.13%$794,493
WynnBET$11,940,8750.88%0.73%$560,819
Unibet$3,120,9100.23%0.40%$186,940
Bally Bet$2,035,3760.15%N/A$233,674
Golden Nugget$678,4590.05%0.03%$0
Totals$1,356,917,568100%$46,734,876

*Handle and promo deductions by operator calculated from operator percentages and total amount provided by the Virginia Lottery, and might not be exact. Hard Rock launched March 31 but was zeroed out in the table. 

That drop of about 7 percentage points was spread out to a few operators. BetMGM grew its handle share more than 2 percentage points. Caesars and Barstool both added more than 1 percentage point each.

BetMGM growth tied to promotions?

BetMGM led all sportsbooks with $17.4 million in promotion deductions during the first quarter, or 37.3% of the $46.7 million in total promotions.

That compares to $11.1 million deducted by FanDuel and $8.4 million deducted by DraftKings.

PointsBet, which launched in December, had a 4.2% share of promo deductions that helped it to nearly 2.1% of handle share.

VA sports betting sees strong March volume

Based on the $1.357 billion bet in the first quarter and the $887.4 million already reported for January and February, sportsbooks handled $469.5 million in bets during March.

That is up 16.8% from February and 54.4% from last March. The monthly total is the second-highest total behind the $485.5 million record bet in January.

Smith’s update did not include sports betting revenue figures. Revenue will be reported in the full March report, which should come out by the end of this week or early next.