West Virginia’s Sports Betting Revenue Drops 65% From March To April

• Two of the five operators are still out of operation after their contract dispute with a mobile provider.
• Sportsbooks in West Virginia have accounted for over $4 million in revenue this year.
• Hollywood Casino continues to carry the West Virginia sports betting market.

CHARLESTON, W.V. – With over $10 million bet on sports in West Virginia over the course of April, the lack of mobile sports betting is still playing a major impact on the market.

Sportsbooks of the state were able to keep $554,880 in revenue according to the most updated weekly revenue report from the West Virginia Lottery. As the tax rate is set at 10% and 85% of that is allocated to the state, West Virginia was able to secure $47,164 in state revenue for the month.

Since the Delaware North feud, mobile wagering has not been available for eight weeks and only three of the five licensed sportsbooks have been accepting wagers. However, this is due to change rather soon, as the state lottery approved new online sports betting licenses to five companies.

Even without accepting action, Mardi Gras Casino and Wheeling Island Casino lost a combined $62,865 on mobile wagers from paying out futures bets. Mardi Gras took the brunt of it, losing $43,294.

The Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino Charles Town continues to be the favorite in the sports betting market, accounting for 76% ($7.9 million) of the state’s total handle for April. Furthermore, the book was responsible for 97% ($539,983) of the state’s total revenue during that time.

Since the launch, Hollywood Casino has accounted for 75% of the state’s revenue, leading to the question of where the industry would be if it wasn’t for this sportsbook that opened operations first in the state.

The William Hill Sportsbook At Mountaineer Casino is usually the next in line behind Hollywood, and April was no different. With a handle of $2.2 million and West Virginia sports betting revenue of falling just shy of $102,000, Mountaineer helped the state by contributing over $10,000 in taxes.

As for the private FanDuel Sportsbook at the Greenbrier Resort, money seemed to be stuck in the bettor’s pockets, only taking in a handle of $282,693 for all of April. This allowed the books to hold over $7,000 but didn’t add much to the tax contributions, providing only $620 to the state.

Sports betting numbers were clearly on the decline in April, which were no match for the strong March revenue numbers, thanks to March Madness.

In the four weeks prior (three of them without mobile betting as well), the books accumulated a total handle of $13.8 million, which means the month-over-month handle shrunk by nearly 25%.

Revenue and tax contributions for the state were no better, as the month-over-month decline was almost 65%, taking in over a million dollars less in revenue and almost $100,000 less in tax contributions for April.

Year-to-date, West Virginia has seen their sports betting handle eclipse $63 million while taking in over $4 million in revenue and leaving almost $350,000 for the state.

News tags: sports betting | West Virginia | WV revenue