WV sports betting revenue notes: BetLucky was West Virginia’s first mobile sportsbook until it was forced to shut down. Its handle and revenue are included in the Mardi Gras and Wheeling Island reports for 2019. Mardi Gras Casino and Wheeling Island also suspended operations in March 2019. Sports betting in West Virginia is completely legal, in fact, it was the 5th state to legalize and take sport bets since August 2018.Currently residents can place bets at any of the 5 casinos in the state as they all have authorized sportsbooks.
Looking to place a bet at a racetrack or casino? Below are the sportsbooks available in West Virginia.
The Greenbrier
Sportsbook Address: 300 W Main St, White Sulphur Springs, WV 24986
The Greenbrier hosts an exclusive casino in the southern part of the state. It is the only private casino in the United States. The Casino Club at The Greenbrier is only accessible for hotel guests, members of its golf and swim and sports clubs and convention visitors under certain circumstances.
FanDuel Sportsbookoperates The Greenbrier’s betting counter and provides its popular online betting app for bettors statewide. The casino opens at 11 a.m. daily, except on Sundays when it opens at 1 p.m. The casino is open until 3 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4 a.m. on weekends.
Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races
Sportsbook Address: 580 E 5th Ave, Ranson, WV 25438
Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races was the first sportsbook to open in West Virginia. It launched on Aug. 30, 2018. It is operated by William Hill. The pair expect to launch a mobile betting app later in Fall 2018. Hollywood Casino hosts 75 table games, 2,500 slots and 18 poker tables. It is open 24 hours a day.
DraftKings Sportsbook also partnered with Hollywood Casino to bring its popular online sports betting platform to the state. It will not have a live sportsbook at the casino.
Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort
Sportsbook Address: 1420 Mountaineer Circle, New Cumberland, WV 26047
Mountaineer Casino is on the northern tip of West Virginia, within minutes of both Ohio and Pennsylvania. It is owned by Eldorado Resorts. There are 36 table games, 1,500 slot machines and 14 poker tables at Mountaineer Casino. Mountaineer Casino’s sportsbook opened on November 21, 2018. It is operated by William Hill.
The casino is open 24 hours a day. The sportsbook opens at 10am on weekdays and 9am on weekends.
Mardi Gras Casino & Resort
Sportsbook Address: 1 Greyhound Dr, Cross Lanes, WV 25313
Mardi Gras Casino Sportsbook opened a sportsbook and mobile betting app in December 2018. Unfortunately, it was forced to suspend operations just a few months later on March 6, 2019.
A contract dispute between its owner, Delaware North and its technology partner, Miomni, has left the casino with closed betting windows.
Fortunately, there are many other gambling opportunities. This includes 30 table games, 1,000 slots and 24 poker tables. There is a 150-room hotel and four restaurants. It is open 24 hours a day.
Wheeling Island Hotel Casino Racetrack
Sportsbook Address: 1 S Stone St, Wheeling, WV 26003
Wheeling Island is sister casino to Mardi Gras Casino. It is in the northern panhandle of the state. Wheeling Island has a track, 1,100 slots, 20 table games and nine poker tables.
Like Mardi Gras Casino, Wheeling Island sports betting is also suspended. There is no timeline for its return.
Sports Betting In West Virginia Locations
Following the recent Supreme Court decision to legalize sports betting in the United States, individual states have been hotly debating legalization in their own jurisdictions.
In addition to West Virginia, states with legal sports betting include:
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Delaware
- Mississippi
- Rhode Island
This is set to be a great tax earner for each state as residents will no longer be participating in illegal sports betting. It was estimated by the American Gaming Association that $150 billion was illegally wagered on sports events every year in the United States.
West Virginia sports betting
Currently, there are three active sportsbooks in West Virginia:
Additionally, Delaware North, the owner of Wheeling Island Sportsbook and Mardi Gras Casino Sportsbook, is severing ties with its sports betting provider, Miomni after being forced to close operations in March 2019. It is currently on the hunt for a new sports betting provider.
West Virginia was without sports betting for about five months. On Aug. 26, 2019, FanDuel Sportsbook launched its popular sports betting platform bringing mobile betting access to bettors throughout the state.
Two days later, the state doubled its online access when DraftKings Sportsbook went live. Now, the West Virginia online sports betting market has the necessary competition to thrive.
Federal regulations
The Supreme Court brought about full-scale legalization of sports betting when a 6-3 vote overturned a 26-year-old law that prevented the majority of states from providing sports betting to their residents.
The case was being pushed by New Jersey, and it met major resistance along the entire process, with the major sports leagues such as the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, and NCAA all lobbying aggressively against the change.
It was on May 14, 2018 that the 1992 bill (called the Bradley Act, or the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) was finally struck down, which allowed 46 states the power to offer full sports betting.
Nevada had been allowed to offer full sports betting all along, with Montana, Delaware, and Oregon able to provide a limited sports wagering offering as part of their state lotteries under the 1992 bill.
As part of this decision, the power is now in the hands of each individual state to decide if they want to legalize sports betting in their own jurisdiction.
State-level regulations
Although many West Virginia residents could use offshore online casinos, and the state had been debating the introduction of an online lottery, up until this year there was no legal form of online gambling in the state. This has now changed with the introduction of a new bill.
There had been talks in the state since early 2017 about introducing some form of sports betting legislation. It was in March 2018, in anticipation of the Supreme Court decision, that West Virginia finally passed a new sports betting law.
The West Virginia Sports Lottery Wagering Act was easily passed by the state House and Senate. This came despite Governor Jim Justice not signing the bill. The MLB commissioner had called for the bill to be vetoed, but to no avail.
It only took six weeks after its introduction to be passed into law. This law gave permission to five gambling premises in the state to provide sports betting offerings at their locations as well as through mobile apps and other online venues in return for a $100,000 license fee. As per the new bill, “No more than five licenses to operate a gaming facility with West Virginia Lottery sports wagering shall be permitted in this state.”
A West Virginia Lottery sports wagering license “authorizes the operation of West Virginia Lottery sports wagering at locations and through any mobile application or other digital platforms approved by the commission.”
The presence of only five casinos in the state therefore won’t dampen the potential upside of sports betting legalization as players from all areas in West Virginia can now place sports bets online.
There have been subsequent hurdles for sports betting legalization in West Virginia, as Justice wanted to include language that was kinder to sports leagues in the legislation.
He held a summit with sportsbook and casino operators, state universities, and sports leagues to discuss the matter. Calls for universities and sports leagues to receive an integrity fee were eventually shut down by the legislature.
Legal WV sports betting operations
The legalization of online sports betting in West Virginia will help decrease the amount of money the local economy loses as a result of being wagered with illegal operators.
Instead, the state can earn tax revenue from sports betting, which can be used for positive initiatives in the region. Those residents who have used illegal sports betting operators in the past will now have proper protection and can be sure their winning bets will be fulfilled.
While legalizing online gambling makes gambling more accessible and can, therefore, lead to higher levels of problem gambling, those same gamblers could have utilized offshore online gambling platforms in the past just as easily. Legalization will likely not be a catalyst for a rise in problem gambling in the state.
Sports betting and taxes in WV
The tax rate for sports betting revenues in West Virginia has been set at 10%. This is a manageable figure for the license holders compared to other states, and they will not have their profits badly eroded due to a more significant tax rate being implemented.
Online Sports Betting In West Virginia
The 10% tax in West Virginia will be levied on the “licensee’s adjusted gross sports wagering receipts.”