Since the state’s legalisation of sports betting 17 months ago, Virginia has joined eight other states in reaching $5 billion in combined sports betting wagering.
After New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Colorado, and Michigan, the state has taken tenth place in total wagering on sanctioned sports events.
In May 2022, the 14 sports betting companies licenced in Virginia recorded gross revenue of more than $42.5 million. This figure was only slightly higher in November 2021, when they recorded $48.3 million.
These figures represent a 17.3 percent increase year over year. However, the overall wagered amount fell by 12% when compared to the $399.5 million in bets put in April. The sum of the total wagers this May amounted to $351.5 million.
Virginia sports betting companies presently benefit from law that exempts them from paying taxes on bonuses and promotions.
However, effective on June 21, new legislative regulations will allow sportsbooks to subtract incentives and promotions from their adjusted gross revenue for a period of 12 months.
This modification went into effect on July 1. This means that operators that have been licenced in Virginia for more than a year will no longer be able to take advantage of the tax reduction.
However, for the time being, betting on promotions remains popular in the state. However, in comparison to the preceding nine months, operators were awarded less than $10 million in promotion credits.
In May, the total amount subject to taxation was $27.5 million, with the state collecting $3.9 million, or around 15%.
From the beginning of January to the end of May, slightly more than half of sports betting operators’ $179.1 million gross revenue went untaxed since it was defined as part of the promotional play.
Nonetheless, the state of Virginia collected more than $13.3 million, an increase of over $7.8 million over the same period in 2021.
The most striking data, however, was the significant increase in handle. The total wagered amount increased by $2.1 billion year on year from January to May, implying that bettors wagered 93 percent more money on sporting events in the first five months of 2022 than in the first five months of 2021.
This, of course, resulted in a more than 50% increase in overall gross and adjusted revenue year on year. Another important first was that adjusted revenue accounted for more than 60% of gross revenue.
