New Year, New Record: Virginia Sports Betting Reaches Record Levels In January

Written By Dann Stupp on March 1, 2022 - Last Updated on August 3, 2022
January 2022

Virginia’s sportsbooks collected nearly $500 million in wagers in January, topping the previous record by more than 13%.

A fresh round of records made for an apt end to a football season that pushed the commonwealth’s industry to new heights, according to PlayVirginia, which tracks Virginia’s sports betting market.

“Five weekends of football, which included an extra week of regular season football and an expanded NFL playoffs, were unquestionably a boon for sportsbooks in January,” said Dann Stupp, lead analyst for PlayVirginia.com. “Sportsbooks will begin to slow down after March Madness. But the industry made a giant leap forward during the football season, and that has it on solid footing for the year ahead.”

Bettors poured $485.5 million in wagers into Virginia’s sportsbooks in January, shattering the record $427.3 million in wagers produced in October, according to data released Tuesday by the Virginia Lottery.

January’s wagers were up 13.8% from $426.6 million in December, too, while the daily wagering average grew to $15.7 million per day over the 31 days of January from $13.8 million per day in December.

MonthHandleAGRHold %PromosOther deductionsAGR
June 2024$415,360,427$45,490,74910.9$10,956$5,007,357$40,472,436
May 2024$505,594,450$59,966,99911.8%$11,705$6,022,600$53,932,694
April 2024$563,495,540$60,438,98910.7%$11,185$5,908,786$54,629,226
March 2024$635,593,137$47,152,1207.5%$12,973$5,182,715$42,435,808
February 2024$545,068,429$49,715,7249.2%$20,981$5,529,773$44,454,418
January 2024$652,879,750$73,402,93911.4%$1,675,956$5,099,228$67,507,323
December 2023$633,181,758$62,635,70810.0%$1,877,436$4,486,382$57,187,962
November 2023$638,831,057$42,530,6686.7%$1,454,896$5,100,909$36,354,936
October 2023$571,354,817$63,996,95211.2%$2,798,787$4,834,082$56,364,083
September 2023$520,304,187$54,081,41410.4%$3,684,887$4,780,308$45,616,219
August 2023$319,005,942$32,359,88810.1%$743,076$3,711,669$27,905,144
July 2023$293,611,789$32,471,39611.1%$827,332$3,433,137$28,210,927
June 2023$325,455,052$32,668,02410.0%$1,318,014$4,915,680$26,434,330
May 2023$403,719,160$48,144,55011.9%$1,781,519$3,815,651$42,547,380
April 2023$425,982,859$45,121,87810.6%$1,941,696$4,247,815$38,932,367
March 2023$511,614,541$55,258,91010.8%$3,802,388$3,805,159$47,651,362
February 2023$433,807,108$39,766,9089.2%$7,789,446$3,592,213$28,385,249
January 2023$510,982,033$49,393,8129.7%$768,221$6,782,949$41,842,641
December 2022$503,075,150$50,687,27810.1%$567,709$3,099,072$47,020,497
November 2022$518,818,987$57,531,25511.1%$817,857$3,887,949$52,825,450
October 2022$528,029,938$51,164,1999.7%$963,187$4,668,013$45,532,999
September 2022$411,273,323$53,821,38213.1%$1,706,116$3,722,575$48,392,691
August 2022$284,671,331$36,978,89713.0%$1,140,242$4,395,696$31,442,959
July 2022$266,001,583$26,024,4089.8%$396,903$4,228,729$21,398,776
June 2022$295,235,271$25,965,1828.8%$7,834,123$5,146,174$12,984,884
May 2022$351,452,931$42,537,52412.1%$9,967,230$5,045,967$27,524,327
April 2022$399,478,366$36,275,2649.1%$11,253,534$4,260,348$20,761,381
March 2022$469,484,017$33,700,0167.2%$14,104,925$5,270,649$14,324,441
February 2022$401,889,135$27,498,1336.8%$15,816,234$3,797,649$7,884,250
January 2022$485,544,417$39,050,0678.0%$16,850,981$3,978,519$18,220,567
December 2021$426,596,891$31,515,0157.4%$17,051,709$4,339,908$10,123,398
November 2021$402,621,132$48,337,03712%$14,993,073$3,417,267$29,926,697
October 2021$427,320,306$30,160,3857.1%$15,805,261$4,569,424$9,785,700
September 2021$293,851,531$30,929,24410.5%$17,422,068$3,172,781$10,334,395
August 2021$182,418,252$17,967,4279.8%$6,868,639$2,410,724$8,688,064
July 2021$161,901,955$19,913,94112.3%$4,375,872$2,898,664$12,691,020
June 2021$234,943,435$22,006,2979.4%$4,983,544$2,125,855$14,896,898
May 2021$226,963,573$23,150,28410.2%$5,168,732$2,341,616$15,663,201
April 2021$236,432,523$19,442,3178.2%$5,529,294$2,532,886$11,380,137
March 2021$304,066,245$26,573,8778.7%$10,340,533$2,388,332$13,845,012
February 2021$265,778,306$18,702,2847.0%$13,187,560$2,282,972$3,231,752
January 2021$58,896,564$10,057,30117.1%$6,343,077$478,612$3,235,612
Total$17,042,587,198$1,674,586,64210.0%$234,019,857$170,716,794$1,272,979,613

Sportsbooks won $39.1 million in gross revenue, second-best all-time for Virginia and up from $31.5 million in December.

After $16.9 million in promotional spending and $4 million in other deductions, sportsbooks produced $18.2 million in taxable revenue. That yielded $2.9 million in state taxes.

The commonwealth is still too young for full-month, year-over year comparisons. But betting volume has more than doubled since Virginia launched sports betting on Jan. 21, 2021. During the market’s first 11 days sportsbooks generated $5.4 million in wagers per day, generating $3.6 million in revenue on $58.9 million in January 2021.

“Virginia’s sportsbooks still have significant room for growth,” said Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes PlayVirginia.com. “Over the last five months, sportsbooks have continued to expand their reach to new customers.

“But just as important, individual bettors are wagering more than a year ago as they become more familiar with the myriad products online sportsbooks are offering.”

For more information and analysis on regulated sports betting in Virginia, visit PlayVirginia.com/revenue.

Photo by AP / Alex Menendez
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Dann Stupp

Dann Stupp is a longtime sports journalist who’s written and edited for The Athletic, USA Today, ESPN, MLB.com and other outlets. He lives in Lexington, Virginia.

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