West Virginia’s first full month of legal sports betting handled nearly $7.5m in wagers, although its private club sportsbook proved a bit of a bust.
Tuesday saw the West Virginia Lottery Commission report the results of the state’s legal wagering activity for September, the first full month of betting since Penn National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races popped the state’s betting cherry in the last week of August.
The Commission said September’s wagering handle hit $7.44m, with Hollywood Casino’s William Hill-powered sportsbook handling $7.07m of that total. The Greenbrier Resort, a members-only facility owned by the state’s governor, handled the other $369k, although the Fanduel-powered sportsbook didn’t open until mid-month.
The two books paid out a total of $5.45m in winnings, leaving just under $2m in ‘revenue,’ although some of that total involves wagers for which the outcome has yet to be decided. Regardless, the state’s tax haul came to just under $200k. More importantly, the major sports leagues didn’t get a penny.