The Virginia Lottery reported $45 million in gross sports betting revenue for July on Friday as the state's sportsbooks notched a collective double-digit hold for the fourth consecutive month.
Overall, Virginia's operators have posted a 10.4% hold through the first seven months of 2024, reaping $383.1 million from close to $3.7 billion worth of wagers. It was the 12th time in 43 months since launch that Virginia's sportsbooks combined for an 11% or higher hold, and three of those instances have come this year.
July's revenue was up 38.5% from last year, outpacing the 28.6% increase in handle to $377.6 million as the hold was nearly nine-tenths of a percentage point higher. Revenue was down only 1.2% from June, while handle tailed off by 9.6%
July also marked the first time in state history Virginia outperformed Nevada in terms of handle, with the larger-populated Old Dominion conducting 99.6% of the month's wagering online compared to 67.6% in Nevada.
Good Month for Sportsbooks Means a Good Month for Tax Coffers
Running July Top 10 #SportsBetting handles by state:
1 New York $1.26B
2 New Jersey $652.3M
3 Penn. $414.7M
4 Mass. $411.8M
5 VIRGINIA $377.6M
6 Nevada $375.9M
7 N. Carolina $340.4M
8 Maryland $333.3M
9 Colorado $320.4M
10 Tenn. $271.5M#SportsBettingX#GamblingX— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) August 30, 2024
The Virginia Lottery doesn't disclose handle and revenue figures by operators, but the state was eligible to levy taxes on $40.4 million in adjusted gross revenue in July. Promotional spend was an all-time low at $7,432 as only Betr was eligible to take such deductions against gross revenue. The remaining $4.6 million in reported deductions were due to operator loss carryover from previous months and the 0.25% federal excise tax on handle.
The state received nearly $6.1 million in receipts for July, lifting the year-to-date total to $51.1 million. The Virginia Lottery reported 10 operators finished with positive AGR in July that made them eligible to pay the state's 15% levy.
The taxes collected in 2024 are $12.5 million more than the first seven months of 2023. Virginia also moved within $4.6 million of $200 million in total tax revenue since the first bets were placed in late January 2021.
Overall, handle has surged 27.1% this year compared to the same period in 2023, while gross revenue is slightly behind with a 26.4% increase. Adjusted revenue, though, has increased 35.2% to $343.8 million, and the all-time total narrowly eclipsed $1.3 billion.
