According to data released Wednesday by the Virginia Lottery, state bettors wagered $399.5 million in April, a 69% increase year-over-year. However, it was also the first month under $400 million in betting handle in the state since September 2021.
Sportsbooks won $36.3 million in gross revenue, up 86% from April 2021 and up 8% from March 2022. Virginia bettors won a total of $363.2 million for a combined 9,08% operators win percentage.
Analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes PlayVirginia.com, Eric Ramsey, spoke about the state’s numbers for the month and explained: “There was enough general interest in the NBA Playoffs, the Final Four, and the first month of baseball, among other attractions to engage bettors in April. Those opportunities will shrink in the coming months, until football season kicks off. But Virginia’s young market is well-positioned for another surge this fall”.
Through the end of April, bettors in the Commonwealth have wagered a combined total of nearly $5 billion on a wide variety of approved sporting events. During this period, 12 licensed operators were active and accepting mobile sports bets.
“Without football or a big betting event like the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, sportsbooks traditionally lose steam heading into the summer. But the year-over-year gains remain consistently strong, showing that the industry has so far been mostly unaffected by struggles in the greater economy. But those headwinds do represent the most significant threat to the relentless growth Virginia’s sports betting industry has enjoyed since the beginning”.