From Commanders to the college game, football brought the expected surge in September 2022 sports bets. The Virginia sportsbooks collected $411.3 million for September, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Virginia Lottery.
September’s $411.3 million is:
- Up 45% from the $284.7 million reported in August, when football wasn’t a major factor yet.
- Up 40% from the $293.9 million collected in the same month a year ago.
Once winning bets and authorized deductions were factored in, Virginia sports betting operators collected $48.4 million in revenue for September.
Nine of the state’s 13 casinos once again finished the month with taxable profits. The state collected $7.3 million in tax payments from the September 2022 sports bets.
What do Virginia fans bet on?
The state of Virginia doesn’t allow bets on in-state college sports. It does have an impact, according to a separate Virginia Lottery quarterly report. Even with Virginia’s rich college basketball tradition, NBA bets outpace the college game by a 4-to-1 margin.
Here’s a breakdown of total wagers by sport from January 2022 to September 2022. Keep in mind, the first nine months of the year include only a sliver of the football season:
- Pro basketball — 23.7%
- Parlays — 20%
- Baseball — 14.1%
- Tennis —12.7%
- Football — 10.1%
- College basketball — 6.1%
- Soccer — 4.3%
- Other (golf, MMA, motorsports, and other bets) — 4.2%
- Hockey — 3.9%
Behind the September 2022 Virginia sports bets
Virginia accepted its first regulated sports bets in January 2021 and sports bets for that first year totaled $3.2 billion.
With three reporting months still left to go in the industry’s second year, Virginia has already passed that mark.
The September 2022 Virginia sports bets push the state to the $3.3 billion mark so far in 2022.
- Customers at Virginia’s sportsbooks won about $357 million from the $411.3 million in sports bets. That’s a 13% hold for the companies.
- Since sports betting debuted in Virginia, customers have placed about $6.6 billion in wagers.
- Virginia’s lifetime sports betting revenue comes in at $602 million.
- The state has collected about $50 million in taxes since sports betting began.
The state taxes sports betting profits at a 15% rate. From the September bets in Virginia:
- $7.1 million went into the general fund.
- $181,435 went toward problem gambling.
The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health gets 2.5% of gaming profits. It’s used specifically for the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund. The Virginia Lottery said 227 people have enrolled in the state’s self-exclusion program so far in 2022. The number is up from 174 in all of 2021.
FanDuel leads the way so far in 2022
The Virginia Lottery breaks down market share four times a year. So far in 2022:
- FanDuel VA held about 41% of the market share
- DraftKings VA captured 23% of the market
- BetMGM VA is third in Virginia at just over 19%
- Caesars VA rounds out the top four at a little more than 8%
The remaining 10 Virginia sports betting apps accounted for about 9% of the market share so far in 2022.
Sportsbook | Date of First Bet | |
---|---|---|
1. | FanDuel | Jan. 20, 2021 |
2. | DraftKings | Jan. 24, 2021 |
3. | BetMGM | Jan. 27, 2021 |
4. | BetRivers | Jan. 27, 2021 |
5. | Caesars | Feb. 3, 2021 |
6. | WynnBet | March 9, 2021 |
7. | Unibet | April 28, 2021 |
8. | Barstool | Aug. 10, 2021 |
9. | Golden Nugget (no longer available) | Sept. 29, 2021 |
10. | Bally Bet | Nov. 24, 2021 |
11. | PointsBet | Dec. 12, 2021 |
12. | Hard Rock | March 31, 2022 |
13. | SI Sportsbook | May 9, 2022 |
14. | Betway | May 17, 2022 |
15. | bet365 | TBD |