Virginia has seen tremendous growth in its sports betting industry since it began in January, and the state nearly saw a new record set in September. Even though the total sports betting handle fell just shy of the previous high, it was still a great month for sportsbooks in the state.
The total sports betting handle for the month was $293.9 million, which was just shy of the $304 million that came in during March. Virginia had seen its numbers head in the wrong direction for a couple of months, but the return of NFL football allowed the state to see a huge bounce back.
The August sports betting handle was just $182.4 million, which means that the total increased by over 61 percent in one month. All of the sports betting in Virginia was done online as the state has still not yet launched any retail sportsbooks.
The adjusted gross revenue for the month also went up as sportsbooks brought in $10.3 million. That was an increase of nearly 120 percent from the $4.7 million that was recorded for the month of August.
Despite the large jump in adjusted gross revenue, Virginia only saw a slight increase in the amount of tax dollars that was brought in. September saw $1.6 million in taxes collected from sports betting, which was only slightly more than the $1.4 million in August.
While the NFL football season allowed Virginia to see a huge jump in September, October should have seen more action at the sportsbooks. The MLB postseason was underway, and both the NBA and NHL kicked off their regular season as well.
Virginia will never be one of the biggest sports betting markets in the U.S., but it has established itself as a strong market in less than a year.
Other States Shattering Records
The biggest news in the U.S. sports betting news comes from the state of New Jersey as it went over the $1 billion mark in monthly handle for the first time in history. New Jersey nearly hit that mark in December of 2020, but the start of the NFL season allowed it to break the record.
Other states throughout the U.S. set new monthly records as well, including Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, and New Hampshire. Virginia was unable to join that group, but it appears that it is on track to break a record at some point before the end of 2021.
Climbing Up the Leaderboard
Even though Virginia was not able to join the list of states that set an industry record in September, this state is still climbing up the leaderboard. Virginia has moved past the state of Iowa, which is a market that has been established since 2019.
Tennessee has not yet announced its September sports betting figures, and that is usually a close battle between the two states. Virginia is clearly a more popular sports betting market than Washington D.C., as the nation’s capital has struggled to see much growth.
