UK stalwart bet365 is set to enter its fourth US state with its VA sports betting launch coming in the next week or two.
That is according to Gina Smith, the Virginia Lottery Board‘s deputy director of gaming compliance, at its quarterly meeting Wednesday.
A spokesperson from bet365 Sportsbook said it would launch Virginia sports betting in the coming weeks but did not provide a launch date.
Betfred live in VA
While bet365 is in line to be the first operator to launch in Virginia in 2023, Betfred was the final launch of 2022, Smith said.
The company announced a partnership with the United Soccer League‘s Loudoun United FC in late December. That was followed by an apparent soft launch, as the release states a formal launch will come in early 2023.
Virginia is not listed as a live state on Betfred’s website.
VA sports betting share not shifting
There was little change in terms of handle share from the last quarterly meeting. This meeting included a look at January through November while the prior meeting only covered through September.
FanDuel and DraftKings, the No. 1 and 2 Virginia sportsbooks respectively, each saw handle share slightly increase, by less than a percentage point each.
BetMGM, meanwhile, dropped 1 percentage point but is still securely the No. 3 operator in the state.
The three accounted for 82.44% of all handle for that 11-month period, leaving just 17.56% of the market for the other 11 operators live in that span.
| Operator | Jan-Nov Share | Jan-Sept Share | Difference (percentage points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| FanDuel | 41.08% | 40.64% | +0.44 |
| DraftKings | 23.06% | 22.82% | +0.24 |
| BetMGM | 18.30% | 19.30% | -1.00 |
| Caesars | 7.87% | 8.33% | -0.46 |
| Barstool | 3.91% | 3.39% | +0.52 |
| PointsBet | 2.42% | 2.38% | +0.04 |
| BetRivers | 1.16% | 1.17% | -0.01 |
| WynnBET | 0.92% | 0.96% | -0.04 |
| Hard Rock | 0.84% | 0.57% | +0.27 |
| Unibet | 0.18% | 0.20% | -0.02 |
| BallyBet | 0.11% | 0.13% | -0.02 |
| 888/SI Sportsbook | 0.07% | 0.06% | +0.01 |
| Betway | 0.06% | 0.03% | +0.03 |
| Golden Nugget | 0.02% | 0.03% | -0.01 |
Golden Nugget license update
Golden Nugget has been shut down in Virginia for months now following since its all-stock acquisition of Golden Nugget Online closed in May.
“We’re working on a transition and they have until March to get up and running with their new platform that would divide it out from DraftKings,” Smith said.
In other words, another operator is taking over the license, a lottery spokesperson told LSR following the meeting:
“We currently are working through their transition to a new operator, which must be completed by March.”
