Virginia sportsbooks have continued their year-over-year rise in sports wagering handle, as the amount wagered during August hiked 56% above the previous year’s comparatives.
Data shared by the Virginia Lottery revealed that bettors in the state wagered $284.7m across 13 licensed operators during the month, 56% above last August’s figure when only eight operators were live in the state.
This figure was also a 7% increase on the $266m wagered during July as major sports moved towards the beginning of the season.
Bettors won a total of $247.7m during the month, representing a hold percentage of 12.99%, a significant increase on July’s hold rate of 9.8%.
Under Virginia’s sports betting laws, operators must pay a 15% tax on all sports betting activity based on the total AGR of each operator.
The total AGR for Virginia sportsbooks in August was $31.4m, meaning operators paid a total of $4.5m in taxes, 45.2% up on July’s figure of $3.1m due to the increased hold rate and profitability of the sportsbooks.
97.5% of all tax funds go towards the state’s General Fund, wth 2.5% being deposited into the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund administered by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health.
For August, $4.4m of the taxes collected from sportsbooks has gone towards the General Fund, with $111,853 going towards the Problem Gambling Treatment Fund.
