WV Sports Betting On The Upswing

The return of mobile apps to the West Virginia sports betting market appears to be taking hold.

Handle for the five-week period ending Nov. 2 totaled $37 million, up from $25.6 million for the four-week period ending Sept. 28. Revenue for the five-week period was $3.2 million.

Online wagering and Bitcoin sports betting was out of the picture in West Virginia for more than six months after launching in late December 2018. Delaware North launched first with BetLucky.com powered by Miomni, but a contract dispute with a third-party tech supplier led to the operation shutting down in early March.

But FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook brought online and mobile betting back to the state at the end of August just days apart.

Interestingly, retail led the state with 55.3% of handle share, mostly due to a lack of sports betting in Washington, D.C. The casino draws customers from the nation’s capital with downtown D.C. about 60 miles away.

DraftKings, Penn National lead WV sports betting

One casino accounted for nearly two-thirds of all WV sports betting handle with 64.8% market share. The retail book at Penn National‘s Charles Town had $14.6 million in handle during the five-week period.

Penn National COO Jay Snowden gave some insight at the beginning of the month to the casino’s sports betting success. Snowden reported handle and revenue were both up more than 50% in the first two months of football season compared to the prior year.

DraftKings Sportsbook, Charles Town’s mobile partner, was the market leader for mobile handle with $9.4 million. FanDuel Sportsbook came in second with $7.2 million over the five-week period.

FanDuel’s retail handle was just $900,000 at the private Greenbrier Resort.

William Hill raking in retail, too

The rest of the state’s handle – $5 million – came from William Hill’s retail operations at Eldorado’s Mountaineer casino.

The casino might as well be in Ohio or Pennsylvania, though, as it sits at the tip of a 90-mile extension of West Virginia between the two. William Hill has yet to launch online in West Virginia.

Delaware North contributing, but negatively

Despite not accepting a bet since before March Madness, Delaware North is still paying out some bets made before operations were suspended.

That means its two casinos, Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras, contributed a loss of $3,494 over the five-week period.