West Virginia Will Soon See Competition For Sports Betting

• West Virginia has been accepting sports bets since August 30, 2018
• Surrounding states all have bills ready to legalize sports betting
• This will add to the competition that West Virginia never really had

CHARLESTON, W. Va. – As more and more states surrounding West Virginia are creating bills to legalize sports betting, the Mountain State is going to see more competition for sports wagering soon.

West Virginia was one of the very first states to legalize sports betting in the country. Sportsbooks in the state back on August 30, 2018. Thanks to that, the state was able to benefit by from those in surrounding states who were clamoring to wager on sports.

That will soon change because all of the states surrounding West Virginia has sports betting bills ready to legalize it in those states. The only exception to this is Pennsylvania, which already has active sports gambling.

Although Pennsylvania sportsbooks opened only two months after West Virginia, mobile wagering skews the competition in West Virginia’s favor. Pennsylvania currently does not have mobile wagering available. That means all of the residents in that state have to go a physical sportsbook to bet on sports.

That isn’t the case for those in West Virginia. This state has online and mobile sports wagering and you are not restricted to only having to be in a physical sportsbook to do so. Because of that, residents from Pennsylvania who live near the border of West Virginia would have a much easier time going to a different state to place their sports bets rather than going to one of Pennsylvania’s sportsbooks.

Competition With Other Surrounding States

D.C, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland all have bills in their state’s Congress to legalize sports wagering. Each state will have something different to offer in regards to sports wagering when compared to West Virginia. Some states have recently passed sports betting bills while others might have to wait until 2020. The history and influence of sports in these states could also be a factor that goes into the competition.

D.C. is the closest to opening sportsbooks. D.C. B23-25 has passed through the D.C. Council and sportsbooks are expected to open soon. On the other hand, Virginia sports betting is not expecting to launch until 2020.

Cincinnati resides Ohio and that could make the state very competitive in terms of sports betting. Unlike West Virginia, there are a large number of professional sports teams that are based in Cincinnati and the fans of those teams are just itching to get into the action. Even states without professional teams can be competitive.

Kentucky is home of the Kentucky Derby which has a rich history in the state and the country. Kentucky also doesn’t have much in terms of legal gambling, so the state could really drive up the competition once sports wagering becomes legal there.

Each state has a different method of how they are legalizing sports wagering and who will be running it. They also will have different methods of implementing mobile sports wagering, or some will not offer it at all. That is one of the key advantages West Virginia has.

If the surrounding states do not implement sports gambling for mobile devices like West Virginia has, many residents of those states could be left unsatisfied and head to West Virginia instead. It is an exciting time to be a sports gambling fan if you live near the northeastern part of the country because you will soon have more sports wagering options available to you.