The Virginia Lottery reported $161.9 million in sports betting wagers for July on Wednesday, a 31% drop from the previous month that also marked the state’s lowest handle for a full month since launching in late January.
The steep drop in handle was expected, however, as July is the slowest month of the year when it comes to sports betting nationwide. With only Colorado, Illinois, and Delaware yet to report, the national handle of slightly more than $2.2 billion is 61% of June’s total of nearly $3.68 billion.
Operators in Virginia, though, continued the nationwide trend of the house getting the better of bettors. They collected just shy of $20 million in gross gaming revenue, 9.3% lower than June, as the house posted a 12.33% win rate. The hold among the 17 states and jurisdictions that have published revenue reports for July is 9.6% when using gross gaming revenue and 8.54% for adjusted gaming revenue.
Promotional play, bonuses, and other deductions left nearly $12.7 million in taxable revenue, which resulted in state coffers receiving close to $1.9 million in tax receipts. The Virginia Lottery does not offer a breakdown of handle and revenue by operator, but noted that four of the seven sportsbooks finished with net positive AGR to contribute taxes for the month.
Top 10 #SportsBetting handle, 2021:
(CAPS includes July)1. #NEWJERSEY – $5.47B
2. #NEVADA – $3.73B
3. #PENNSYLVANIA – $3.34B
4. #Illinois – $3.25B
5. #INDIANA – $1.87B
6. #MICHIGAN – $1.86B
7. #Colorado – $1.62B
8. #VIRGINIA – $1.49B
9. #TENNESSEE – $1.25B
10. #IOWA – $887.9M— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) September 1, 2021
The promotional play and bonuses totaled just under $4.4 million, continuing a downward trend that was expected following launch. It is less than one-third the $13.2 million totaled in February during the first full month of wagering, and 12.2% lower compared to June’s amount of just under $5 million.
Approximately $62 million of the nearly $127 million in overall gross gaming revenue generated since launch has been available for taxation, but the ratio of AGR to GGR has increased to just shy of two-thirds (66.4%) over the past three months as promotional play has gradually lessened.
Virginia has collected nearly $10 million in tax receipts from sports betting overall.
