West Virginia Sees Modest Profit from First Month of Sports Betting

In its first month of sports betting, the state of West Virginia saw a total of $193,306 as profits. The number rises to $207,195 if the two days of Hollywood Casino’s soft launch of sports betting from August 30-31 is counted.

 

A total amount of $7.44 million was wagered on sports betting, out of which $5.45 million was paid out in winnings, meaning that $1,989,554 was left for casino revenue. With West Virginia’s 10 percent tax on sports betting profits, $198.955 was left as payment to the state.

 

A majority of the revenue from the recently legalized sports betting was churned out by Hollywood Casino, with the total amount wagered standing at $7.07 million, and as much as $5.14 million being paid out in winnings. This translates to a profit of $1.93 million for the gambling giant, and a total of $193,306 in state privilege tax payment.

 

The profits from sports betting are pretty modest and dwarfed by the whopping $41.23 million profit earned from state Lottery revenue for the same month. However, proponents of sports betting have always pushed it as a means of generating more interest, thereby increasing foot traffic in the five casinos found in West Virginia, and not as a means of deriving major revenue for the Mountain State.

 

Currently, only two out of the five casinos in the state offer sports betting, and no casino has launched mobile sports betting for smartphones as of now.  However, according to Doug Buffington, Lottery Deputy Director, things are soon about to change. Buffington said that Mountaineer Racetrack and Casino, located in Chester, has paid its annual licensing fee for its sports betting launch. In addition, two Delaware North casinos, namely Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras, are working to start the field test of their sports betting equipment.

 

Delaware North aims to launch on-site betting as well as mobile betting at the same time, unlike The Greenbrier and Hollywood Casino, both of which launched on-site sports betting first.

 

State Racing Commission left with major decisions

 

At the Racing Commission meeting which was held recently, Commissioner Ken Lowe proposed that pari-mutuel betting kiosks be included within the sportsbooks of all four racetrack casinos. He also urged that these casinos have at least one big screen TV that is, at all times, tuned to live racing events.