Virginia Sportsbooks Set Handle and Revenue Records in January 2024

The Virginia Lottery January report on legal sports betting activity for the state is out, and the results are certainly encouraging as our best sportsbooks helped contribute to a fantastic month.

While some states that have already released their January figures saw a slowdown in overall wagering activity during the first month of 2024, Virginia sports betting apps and retail providers combined to set new monthly highs in both handle and revenues.

January represented the third straight month that Virginia sports betting topped $600 million in wagers and the first time that gross revenues for state providers climbed over the $70 million plateau.

$652.9 million January handle

The Virginia Lottery identified a new record handle for the Old Dominion in January as $652.9 million in accepted sports bets was reported by state providers, easily topping the old record of $638.8 million set in November 2023. While setting the new record, residents surely took advantage of numerous Virginia sportsbook promos.

The $652.9 million represents an impressive 27.2% year-over-year increase from the nearly $511 million overall sports betting activity from January 2023 and is 3.1% better than the nearly $633.2 million handle from December.

According to statistics, $646.246 million of the overall January handle came from Virginia sports betting sites, while $6.6 million came from the state's retail providers. The $6.6 million brick-and-mortar handle is more than three times the retail sports betting total from January 2023.

Revenues soar

Sportsbook revenues for Virginia also hit an all-time high in January, topping $70 million for the first time. The $74.3 million in gross revenue easily tops the previous revenue record of just under $64 million set in October.

The $74.3 million is a healthy 49.5% year-over-year improvement from the $49.4 million in January 2023 and is almost $11 million better than the $63.6 million posted in December.

Virginia sportsbooks got the best of the public for the most part during January. The hold rate for Virginia sports betting apps was 11.4%, while brick-and-mortar facilities boasted a 14.1% win rate in January.

Adjusted gross revenues for Virginia sportsbooks came in at $67.5 million, allowing $9.9 million in taxes to be generated for needy state and local tax coffers. That comes from a 15% tax the commonwealth levies on adjusted gross revenues.

With January's totals added in, tax contributions from Virginia's best sportsbooks eclipsed $150 million in lifetime contributions during their just over three years of operation.

Other Virginia sports betting news

On Thursday, the Virginia House of Delegates approved a Bill that gives the West Virginia Lottery Commission powers to protect athletes from ongoing harassment being reported in the growing American scene. The vote was an overwhelming 90-1. 

It will now be up to the Senate to pass HB 4700, which it is expected to do.

HB 4700 opens up the opportunity to ban bettors from wagering on sports in the state if it is found that he/she is harassing athletes, coaches, or officials tied to sporting activities.

Virginia’s move on harassment adds to a broader effort by the entirety of the U.S. legal sports betting industry to curb such behavior.