The number of people betting on sports in Virginia witnessed a rise for the first time in three months, but gross gaming income remained high, owing in part to bets on golf and tennis. According to PlayVirginia, which oversees the state’s gaming industry, the increase in the June volume helped push overall gross gaming income beyond $100 million since the market’s introduction, marking yet another significant milestone for the Commonwealth.
Jessica Welman, a PlayUSA.com analyst, says that individual games like golf, being the future bets with considerably lower odds for bettors than more traditional wagers on sports like football, are exploited by sportsbooks. Those sports bets are significant in the summer when the volume is lower. As the football season approaches, it puts bookmakers in a strong position.
According to figures provided Friday by The Virginia Lottery, sportsbooks in Virginia received a total of $234.9 million through wagers in June, which is up by 3.5 percent from $227.0 million in May. Throughout June, sportsbooks brought in $7.8 million in wagers each day, up from $7.3 million per day in May.
June’s wagers could generate $22.0 million of revenue from revenue, which is down 5% from May’s $23.2 million but still the third-highest since the market’s inception in January. Adjusted gross sales came in at $14.9 million, missing the $15.7 million of the high-water record set in May. The state collected $2.3 million as tax in June, including $56,850 to solve problems in gambling assistance.
Since its inception, Virginia’s sportsbooks have generated a total of $107.0 million as gross revenue. Even though adjusted gross income has increased considerably over the previous two months, promotional credits have drained most of the victory. Sportsbooks have made a total of $49.3 million as gross revenue.
According to a study by Legal Sports Report, a sister site of PlayVirginia’s, FanDuel Sportsbook, the nation’s largest operator, has dominated the Virginia sports betting industry thus far. LSR estimates that right from the market’s inception on Jan. 21 to June, FanDuel produced $656.9 million in wagering.
DraftKings earned the second spot with $337.1 million in betting, or 25.4 percent of the total volume in the state. However, DraftKings spent $10.0 million on promotions during that period, roughly half of FanDuel’s spending.
