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WV sports betting revenue passes $10m in first six months

| By iGB Editorial Team
The first six months of legal sports betting in West Virginia has seen the state’s licensed operators generate revenue of $10.1m (£7.7m/€8.9m), with the Penn National Gaming-operated Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races leading the market.
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The first six months of legal sports betting in West Virginia has seen the state’s licensed operators generate revenue of $10.1m (£7.7m/€8.9m), with the Penn National Gaming-operated Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races leading the market.

Customers wagered $99.3m since the market opened on September 1, 2018, winning $87.4m.

The Charles Town venue was responsible for the bulk of handle and revenue, with stakes for the casino totalling $68.6m, from which it generated revenue of $7.5m.

This set it far ahead of the second most popular venue for sports betting, Eldorado Resorts’ Mountaineer Casino, which contributed revenue of $1.2m from $11.8m in stakes.

Delaware North’s Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack came a distant third with revenue of $574,910.68, followed by another Delaware North property, Mardi Gras Casino and Resort ($514,775.38) and the Greenbrier ($352,147.44).

The two Delaware North casinos were the only venues to launch mobile wagering during the six-month period, though their BetLucky app has been offline since March 6. Originally blamed on a service interruption, this has since been revealed to have stemmed from an infringement dispute between the operator’s sports betting technology partner Miomni Gaming and rival supplier Enterg Software Solutions.

Delaware North has since terminated its sports betting contract with Miomni, and its online and land-based sportsbooks remain closed.

From the week commencing December 29, 2018 to the week of March 9, 2019, the two venues generated revenue of $670,443.36 from mobile wagering. This was split almost evenly between the two properties, with Wheeling Island contributing $335,474.06 of the total, and Mardi Gras $334,969.30.

Regulated sports betting generated $1.1m in taxes for West Virginia over the period, with $855,342.37 going to the state and $150,942.79 used for administrative purposes.

Looking at other regulated forms of gambling in the state, regulated table games generated revenue of $75.8m from the start of the state’s 2019 financial year on July 1, 2018 to the end of March.

Again, the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town led the market, with revenue of $46.9m, followed by Mountaineer Casino, with revenue of $11.1m. The state has generated taxes of $26.5m from table games for the financial year to date.

Net video lottery terminal revenue, meanwhile, amounted to $353.9m for the fiscal year to March 30. This comprised $184.7m from the Charles Town facility, followed by $68.7m from Wheeling Island, and $66.5m from Mountaineer Casino. Mardi Gras lagged behind the other licensed casinos, with revenue of $34.0m.

West Virginia’s gambling market is set to expand further after Governor Jim Justice allowed a bill legalising online gaming to pass into law without his signature. The bill sets a 15% gross revenue tax for licensed operators, as well as a $250,000 fee for a five-year licence.

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