West Virginia sportsbooks faced a challenging month as they recorded a total handle of approximately $38 million in February.
Compared to January, the overall handle in the Mountain State has significantly decreased by over $12 million.
The decline in activity during this autumn can largely be attributed to the end of the football season. In January, both NFL and college football betting came to a halt, with only the Super Bowl taking place the following month.
Both retail locations and online sports betting apps in WV showed a noticeable decrease in betting activity.
The handle for online sportsbooks just surpassed $27 million, whereas retail books accumulated approximately $11 million.
Last month marked the end of a 26-week streak where sportsbooks consistently surpassed $10 million in revenue. While the first two weeks generated an impressive sum of over $10.5 million each, the final two weeks fell short, failing to reach $9 million.
Betting figures had not been this low since August 2020.
Due to a sluggish month of betting, revenue also suffered a decline. West Virginia sportsbooks only generated $1.3 million in February, a significant drop from the previous month’s earnings of nearly $4 million.
We should delve into the betting report from last month and analyze all the wagering information in detail.
WV sports betting February handle
In quite a while, February 2021 marked one of the most challenging months for the WV market. The state witnessed its lowest handle of $38 million since last August, a time when books were still accepting a greater number of bets.
August was a relatively quiet month for betting, as it occurred before the football season and winter sports were just getting underway.
There is a 25% decrease in February’s output compared to January’s.
Sportsbooks experienced two weeks of sluggish activity. During the week of Feb. 20, the total handle barely surpassed $8 million, marking the lowest performance since Aug. 8, where bets only reached around $7 million.
Despite representing 71% of the total handle, online platforms had a lackluster month.
In the past week, their highest online handle reached only $8 million, and it recently dropped to approximately $6 million over the last two weeks. This marks the first instance since the week ending Nov. 14 that the weekly online handle has fallen below $7 million.
Retail betting also faced challenges, with land-based sportsbooks experiencing a decline in their handle, which fell below $2 million during the week of Feb. 20. This marked their lowest performance since Aug. 29, with only $1.9 million in wagers placed.
With over $17 million in bets, Hollywood Casino emerged as the top performer for the month. DraftKings WV Sportsbook, the online app associated with Hollywood Casino, generated close to $11 million, while its retail book accounted for approximately $6 million of the total handle.
In February, the Greenbrier earned more than $14 million, with the majority of the wagers coming from its online platforms, FanDuel WV and BetMGM Sportsbook WV. The resort’s retail book, on the other hand, only accounted for approximately $370,000.
The Mountaineer placed third, generating approximately $3.7 million in monthly bets. The William Hill Sportsbook WV alone accounted for over $1.3 million in total earnings over the course of four weeks.
Among active sportsbooks, Mardi Gras Casino secured the fourth position while Wheeling Island came in last. Mardi Gras Casino generated a handle of nearly $2 million, which significantly surpassed its sister property’s handle of only $550,000.
Both Mardi Gras and Wheeling made use of Betly Sportsbook, resulting in earnings of approximately $430,000 for Mardi Gras and $75,000 for Wheeling.
WV sports betting February revenue
The revenue of WV sportsbooks took a hit last month as well, with earnings of approximately $1.3 million. This represents a significant decline of 66% compared to the betting revenue in January.
Upon reviewing the report, it becomes evident that the revenue experienced a volatile week characterized by significant fluctuations. This can be attributed to the influence of the Super Bowl and the substantial influx of funds associated with the event.
Sportsbooks raked in nearly $3 million during the week preceding the Super Bowl, capitalizing on the immense betting activity surrounding the event. Given the high volume of wagers placed, many individuals chose to place their bets ahead of time, distinguishing it from most other sporting occasions.
All wagers made on the Super Bowl before Sunday were considered positive revenue, as the week concluded on Saturday.
As a result, sportsbooks experienced a loss of more than $2.5 million in the subsequent week as they had to settle all the NFL wagers, including any remaining futures bets.
The combined profits of the WV market for the duration of two weeks amounted to $430,000.
In addition to the initial surge at the start of the month, there was another standout week that differed from the rest. During the week of February 20, sportsbooks only managed to accumulate a mere $20,000 in earnings.
Throughout this fiscal year, sportsbooks generated a minimum of six figures in revenue every week, except for those ending in losses.
The Greenbrier outperformed its competitors and secured the top spot in this category. Generating a significant revenue of nearly $1.2 million for the month, the majority of it was contributed by its online platforms.
During several weeks in February, Hollywood experienced a loss in revenue, earning approximately $400,000, which placed it far behind in second place.
The earnings of the DraftKings app were approximately $65,000.
In the month, Wheeling Island emerged as the sole sportsbook besides (insert name) to generate a profit. It achieved a total of $30,000 in earnings, out of which more than $13,000 was generated through online channels.
Despite earning approximately $14,000 through its Betly app, Mardi Gras incurred a loss exceeding $22,000.
The Mountaineer experienced a loss of over $230,000. The retail option generated a modest profit of a few thousand dollars, but the William Hill app showed a significant deficit of more than $237,000.
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