Sportsbook Resources
Virginia is for lovers – and now, it’s for bettors, too.
(Just don’t expect to see that second part advertised; the state government expressly forbids it.)
Virginians embraced legal sports betting in the spring of 2020 – and the process was much simpler than it had been for several other states. And while residents of the Old Dominion won’t be able to place a retail sports wager for a while, they have no shortage of sportsbook options on their mobile devices.
Read More. ↓With zero brick-and-mortar sports betting options in Virginia as of May 2022, online operators are literally the only game in town. Fortunately for Virginia natives and visitors, all of the top sportsbook providers in the country have set up shop, giving casual and hard-core players alike all the variety they could possibly want.
Here’s a look at our top-rated online sportsbooks in Virginia.
Read Less. ↑BetMGM is one of the top-rated sportsbooks in the U.S. offering some of the best live betting odds in the industry. They’re also the largest iGaming operator across the U.S.
Caesars is proving to be one of the most aggressively expanding brands in sports betting. Unfortunately, like all major U.S. sportsbooks, they are quick to limit you if you go on a tear and their odds boost promos offer low maximum bet limits.
FanDuel Sportsbook continues to lead in the U.S. with a 42% share of the online sports betting market and an 18% share of online gaming. However, like most major U.S. sportsbooks, they cater more towards casual bettors and limit sharps or anyone on a heater.
PointsBet’s innovative nature shows that they don’t want to just be another book you place typical bets. Unfortunately, they are quick to limit bettors on a hot streak and limit the number of promos you’re able to take advantage of, making it necessary for you to shop at other books regularly.
Barstool Sportsbook’s controversial practices have made them one of the most polarizing companies in sports media. In addition, their fun-over-function business model offers little profitability for bettors who quickly find themselves limited after a hot streak.
DraftKings had a solid reputation as the leading DFS provider in the country, so the shift to legal sports betting felt natural. They offer one of the most voluminous collections of ongoing promos and odds boosts in the industry as they cater to the beginner crowd. However, their reputation has dwindled as outspoken CEO Jason Robins leads the charge of the anti-profitable bettor mentality that runs rampant amongst sportsbooks that are quick to limit winning players.
Wynn has been steeped in the legal gambling scene in Vegas for as long as anyone out there. In other occurrences where you have an operator with a rich history and influence in retail casino operations and resorts, the focus can predominantly be on slots and table games. The online sportsbook can be a casualty of convenience. We were pleasantly surprised to find that isn’t the case with the WynnBET app.
Unless you live near a physical casino/sportsbook to potentially take advantage of some rewards programs, there is no reason to use BetRivers as your primary sportsbook.
Bally Bet’s bare-bones operation and limited features don’t warrant much consideration as a part of your regular sportsbook rotation unless you find holes in their lines. Still, it’s a company to be bullish about going forward.
The Sports Illustrated Sportsbook is very much in its infancy, which is noticeable upon browsing the betting site or app, as the design is mediocre to go along with below-average betting odds. However, their relationship with 888 Holdings should allow them to evolve as they continue to grow in this hyper-competitive space.
Hard Rock sportsbook is an excellent choice for super casual bettors. It is simplistic and offers some of the best sign-up bonuses for new users looking to try sports betting for the first time or those betting for light entertainment.
The Golden Nugget Sportsbook is an average betting site experience. Apart from concerns surrounding their design and poor user interface, the betting odds and menu are average. The customer service is solid, and they offer many deposit and withdrawal options, which is excellent for customers. They provide a great sign-up bonus and other promotions worth taking advantage of. Overall, Golden Nugget is conducive for bettors to utilize, but many competitors have more to offer.
Talk about an incentive to try something new. PointsBet is offering a massive $2,000 in risk-free bets – and $1,500 of that is tied to new users making their first PointsBet, the operator’s proprietary betting system. Visit for the intrigue – and stay for the wide range of sports markets and strong promo game.
Check out our PointsBet sportsbook review.
When you’ve been in the gaming space as long as BetMGM has, you know a thing or two about optimizing the user experience. Add up the generous and frequent promos, the wide variety of sports with live-streaming options and an elite casino offering (if you’re into that sort of thing), and this app is strong.
Check out our BetMGM sportsbook review.
Between the generous sign-up bonus, occasional free bets and strong profit and odds boosts offerings, Caesars does well to give players a reason to stick around. It also helps that Caesars swapped out a less-than-enjoyable William Hill interface in favor of something simpler and more user-friendly in the U.S.
Check out our Caesars sportsbook review.
FanDuel is that friendly, mostly reliable friend who will happily help you out of a minor jam but might not go as far as helping you move. The sleek interface and top-shelf live betting experience make FanDuel a must-add, though it couldn’t hurt to see more odds boosts on their Same Game Parlay options.
Check out our FanDuel sportsbook review.
Barstool isn’t your ordinary sportsbook – and that’s a very good thing in this space. From the Barstool Tailgate Tour to personality-driven promos and contests to prizes like cruise discounts and VIP seating for entertainment, Barstool goes out of its way to take care of its Stoolies. Mission accomplished.
Check out our Barstool sportsbook review.
It pays to be popular with DraftKings, which offers a $100 referral bonus if your BFF (or mom, or acquaintance, or plumber, if the two of you are close) signs up for the app, as well. Regular free-play pools and contests will give you and your friends plenty to do without having to make big deposits, which is also nice.
Check out our DraftKings sportsbook review.
It’s hard to envision a sportsbook with as storied a history as Wynn being an underdog in the space, but it’s true. An above-average interface, fun Wynn-specific contests and giveaways (golf in Vegas!) and a non-restrictive bonus offer – albeit a small one – make this veteran operator worth a shot.
Check out our WynnBET sportsbook review.
You won’t get a four-figure bonus from BetRivers (unless $250.0 counts), but it comes in the form of a deposit match with a 1x rollover, so there’s a better chance of seeing it all than some bonuses in the industry. Of course, that isn’t enough to make up for BetRivers’ clunky home page and hum-drum odds offerings.
Check out our BetRivers sportsbook review.
Bally has promised users that the best is yet to come – and that’s good, because they’re well behind the competition in the U.S. Their free bet comes in at half the industry standard, and their loyalty program forces players to rack up an absurd number of points for minimal free play rewards. The best is yet to come!
Check out our Bally Bet sportsbook review.
Just about everyone loves free stuff, and Virginians are certainly no different. Virginia-based sportsbooks are clamoring to add new customers – and that’s great news for those of you looking to join the fray. Here are the top bonuses and signup offers available in VA:
PointsBet is one of the more creative sportsbooks in Virginia, and they’ve incorporated that into their new-user bonus program. Instead of settling for a single risk-free bet of $1,000 like the industry standard, PointsBet offers two separate risk-free bets for a total of up to $2,000 in insurance.
The first part of their offer includes $500 back if you lose your first fixed-odds bet. The second part of the offer consists of up to $1,500 back if you lose your first PointsBetting wager, their flagship proprietary betting method.
This sports betting bonus is pretty straightforward compared to the industry standard but still comes with many terms and conditions worth knowing before you jump in. VA players get a free bet in the equal value of your first wager up to $1,100 if you lose your first bet. The first bet must be made within 30 days of creating your account to qualify.
Free bets will be added to a participant’s Caesars account within three business days after their qualifying wager is graded as a loss by Caesars. You must use your free bet within 14 calendar days from it being awarded, or it will expire. You do not get the full value of a free bet token back if your wager with it wins.
FanDuel Sportsbook provides new Virginia online sportsbook customers with a no sweat first bet worth up to $1,000 for signing up for a FanDuel account. Sports bettors can make an initial deposit and wager it on any sporting event.
If the bet wins, you get no bonus money. If your first bet is graded as a loser, this offer entitles you to a full refund of up to $1,000. Your refund will be issued within 72 hours. It takes the form of free bet credit, which requires a 1x rollover.
BetMGM has an average sign-up bonus for Virginians, offering a $1,000 risk-free bet for new users. It’s a bump up from the lowly $600 they were offering for a while.
With the risk-free bet, you only get money back if your first bet loses, and they match your first bet up to $1,000. There are no minimum or maximum odds restrictions on your first bet, which is nice since sign-up promos usually feature those. While that’s admirable insurance, it rewards you with nothing if your first bet hits. For that reason, deposit matches are generally slightly more appealing.
Barstool Sportsbook has an average sign-up bonus offering a $1,000 risk-free bet for new users. They word it differently by calling it a “2-for-1,” but Virginia residents know better: it’s a standard welcome bonus.
With the risk-free bet, you only get money back if your first bet loses, and they match your first bet up to $1,000. While that’s commendable insurance, it rewards you with nothing if your first bet hits. For that reason, deposit matches are generally slightly more appealing.
At DraftKings Virginia, you will receive a $50 free bet with a minimum deposit of $5. If you don’t have the bankroll to make a more extensive first deposit, this is a humble offer. Still, this is far from generous, considering that DK is a multi-billion dollar industry giant.
The more significant offer DraftKings features is a 20% first deposit match up to $1,000. In this case, you must deposit $5,000 to be eligible to receive the maximum possible bonus amount of $1,000. This is not a reasonable offer for the casual bettor.
Bally Bet Virginia has a pretty poor sign-up bonus compared to the industry standard. They offer two different bonuses. New users get a free $100 bet for signing up plus a $550 risk-free first bet. The risk-free bet can be used to wager on any event that doesn’t exceed +300 in odds.
You only get a bonus with the risk-free bet if your first bet is graded a loser, giving you some insurance. However, Bally’s limits the odds available for you to take advantage of, and the monetary value of $550 is severely below industry leaders.
BetRivers Virginia offers a deposit match up to $250, which is nice as it gives you free money to play with instead of risk-free bets that only award you if your first bet is graded a loser.
The deposit match at BetRivers VA isn’t automatically given to you either. You have to opt in to activate it. To do that, go to the Cashier / Deposit menu and make your first deposit. Enter the code 250MATCH within the promo field. Your bonus funds will be applied to your account within 48 hours, and you’ll receive an email once the funds are ready to be activated.
The silver lining of the WynnBET promo is that you only need to deposit $10 to get the maximum amount of the $200 bonus whether your qualifying bet wins, loses, or is a push. Most sportsbooks require a 100% deposit match to trigger a complete bonus, meaning you would have to deposit $1,000 to get $1,000 back, and in the case of a risk-free bet, you would only get a free bet or credit if your qualifying bet loses.
Unfortunately, WynnBET Virginia does complicate how you receive your free bets. The $200 is divided into four $50 bets. The first free bet will be released within 72 hours after the settlement of your first qualifying bet. The remaining three free bets will be released in a single installment every seven days until all free bets have been released.
(Note: Terms and conditions apply to all offers and bonuses.)
Consult our top list above for the best sports betting options available to you in Virginia. Our interactive list allows you to sort sportsbooks based on a number of criteria, including banking options, bonuses and quality of customer service.
If you’re looking for more information before making your choice, be sure to check out our detailed, unbiased reviews for each of the top sportsbooks in Virginia. This is especially important if you want to understand how each book’s bonus offers work.
Registration requirements vary slightly by sportsbook, but most follow the same protocols. Be sure to have your personal information (name, address, phone number) and credit card details (number, expiry date, CVV) handy.
Once you’re comfortable with how your sportsbook’s new signup bonus works, it’s time to make your initial deposit and claim that sweet bonus. The majority of first-time offers for Virginians come in one of two forms:
Congratulations! You’re ready to place a wager. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the app interface before diving in. Most mobile operators make it easy for new sports bettors to navigate, but it’s still a good idea to know where everything is.
From there, you can place any type of wager you like; the most popular bet types are the moneyline, spread or total. You can also dive into team or player props, or even kick things off with a futures bet.
Once you have the desired wager(s) in your betting card, take one last look to ensure you’ve made the selections you want. If everything is good, simply click the “Bet” button – and you’re off!
If you were choosing which states were most likely to approve sports betting legislation, you would probably put the one with ZERO casinos somewhere near the bottom of the list. And yet, here we are!
Virginia worked quickly to put a bill in place following SCOTUS’s repeal of PASPA, and while the first version wasn’t ultimately the one that was approved, it did have many of the key parameters in place (specifically the tax and operator fee, along with a ban on betting on any Virginia-based college team).
Here’s a look at Virginia’s sports betting history:
Armed only with a deep history of horse racing and 30-year-old lottery legislation, Virginia lawmakers surprised many by pushing a sports betting bill forward just six months after PASPA was overturned.
From there, Virginia’s Senate commissioned a study of states that had already enacted sports betting legislation to see what kind of tax revenue they might be looking at were Virginia to join them. And not long after they got the answer they were looking for – an estimated $400 million annually – a new sports betting bill was introduced.
Once all of the numbers and other provisions were agreed upon (including a pro league requirement that Virginia employ “official league data”), Governor Northam signed Bills SB 384 and HB 896 into law, formally legalizing sports betting in Virginia.
Several weeks later, on Jan. 21, 2021, FanDuel made state history by accepting the first legal sports wager within Virginia’s borders. That kicked off a wild year in the state, with 11 sportsbooks contributing to an impressive $3.21-billion handle figure for 2021.
Year 2 of the Virginia betting experience brought plenty of new developments. Delegate Schuyler T. VanValkenburg (real name) introduced a bill intended to allow for wagering on Virginia-based collegiate teams; that bill was promptly voided, while a similar bill passed by the Senate but was struck down by the House.
January 2022 saw Virginia set a single-month handle record with a whopping $485.5 million, buoyed by the NFL and NCAA bowl season. Just over a month later, the state enacted a ban on gaming entities from saying “Virginia is for bettors” in any advertising, as a play off the state motto “Virginia is for lovers.” (See? We told you.)
Like most states, Virginia’s state gaming authority has put safeguards in place to ensure that bettors have a way out of any potential trouble spots.
The Virginia Council on Problem Gaming manages the state’s self-exclusion program, which allows players to impose a self-ban on all gambling activity with a specific sportsbook. Players can also set deposit and bet limits of their choosing.
Visit the Virginia Council on Problem Gaming site.
It will come as no surprise to see a rather extensive list of major professional and amateur sports available to Virginia bettors – a list that includes (but is not limited to):
Unfortunately, Virginia is more restrictive than the majority of states when it comes to betting markets; here’s what is prohibited within state borders:
We thought about putting one of those “UNDER CONSTRUCTION!” images here … you know, the one with the all-caps font and the guy in the yellow hard hat and orange vest jackhammering a street that isn’t really there? Well, it turns out that watermarks are VERY hard to remove, so went in this direction instead:
While Virginia has approved retail sports betting, you can’t yet wager in-person within state lines. Construction is underway on four casinos that will ultimately have dedicated sportsbooks, but for the time being, Virginia residents and visitors will have to settle for making their sports wagers via their online devices.
For a state that doesn’t have so much as a slot machine or craps table, Virginia sure does love its gambling.
Virginians came out in droves once sports betting was legalized within state borders, putting up nearly $59 million in handle over the first 10 days despite having just four mobile operators to choose from. And as you might expect, things really picked up once the NFL and college football seasons kicked off, with Virginia stringing together six straight months of $400+ million in handle (and counting).
Here’s a look at Virginia’s monthly sports betting handle beginning in 2021:
|
MONTH |
HANDLE |
|
January 2021 |
$58.9 million |
|
February 2021 |
$265.8 million |
|
March 2021 |
$304 million |
|
April 2021 |
$236.4 million |
|
May 2021 |
$227 million |
|
June 2021 |
$235 million |
|
July 2021 |
$161.9 million |
|
August 2021 |
$182.4 million |
|
September 2021 |
$293.8 million |
|
October 2021 |
$427.3 million |
|
November 2021 |
$402.5 million |
|
December 2021 |
$426.6 million |
|
TOTAL |
$3.21 billion |
|
MONTH |
HANDLE |
|
January 2022 |
$485.5 million |
|
February 2022 |
$401.8 million |
|
March 2022 |
$469.5 million |
|
April 2022 |
$399 million |
|
May 2022 |
$351 million |
November 2021 stands out as the most notable month of Virginia’s sports betting journey so far. Sportsbooks generated a record $48.3 million in revenue thanks to a hefty 12 percent hold. That meant $4.2 million in taxes, easily the highest on record.
Sportsbooks pay a 15 percent tax rate on gaming revenue.
Yes! Sports wagering officially began in Virginia on Jan. 21, 2021.
You can create an account, deposit, make bets and withdraw using any regulated mobile sports betting app in Virginia, as long as you are within state borders. Be sure to complete all of your transactions before you leave, however; once you’re outside the state, you will no longer be able to access your account(s).
You certainly can! Any regulated mobile sports betting app should work in whatever Virginia-based sports venue you’re in at that time.
Check out our list of the top-rated Virginia sportsbooks above!
You are not permitted to wager on Virginia-based collegiate teams, or make college player prop bets. You can, however, bet on out-of-state college teams.
Not yet. Four brick-and-mortar casinos are being built in Virginia, but until they’re up and running, your only option is to wager via a mobile sports betting operator.
Virginia is one of the largest betting markets in the United States, ranked 12th overall with 8.64 million people (2022 estimate).
The Virginia Council on Problem Gaming has jurisdiction over sports betting in the state. You’ll find plenty of information on the website, including directions for self-exclusion, laws and regulations, and mobile sports wagering reports.
There will – but not many. At present, 15 online sports betting companies are operating in Virginia. That leaves three unclaimed sportsbook licenses, after which point there can be no new entries (unless the existing law is amended).
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