Sportsbooks in Virginia took an overall handle of $401.9m in February, a 51.2% increase year-on-year, boosted by Super Bowl bets.
Data from the Virginia Lottery revealed that sportsbooks in the Old Dominion State handled over $33m in Super Bowl bets, helping to stabilize a steep decline in bets from January’s record of $485m.
Over the 28 days of February, punters in the state wagered around $14.3m per day, down slightly from the $15.7m per day in January.
Despite a monthly decline, a 51.2% increase over February 2021’s $265.8m signals progress and market growth for sports betting in Virginia, which first launched in January 2021.
Operators took $27.5m in total revenue throughout February, with a hold rate of 6.5%, as bettors won at their best rate since last February when the hold rate stood at 4.6%.
Following promotional expenditure of $15.82m in promotional spending and $3.80m in other deductions, four of 11 operators active in Virginia reported a positive AGR totaling $7.89m, sportsbooks produced $1.41m in state taxes and $1.37m into the General Fund Allocation.
With January boosted by the NFL playoff schedule and February helped by the SuperBowl, it is expected that the March Madness NCAA College Basketball tournament will provide a boost to March’s sportsbook handle in Virginia.
