West Virginia Sports Betting Officially Launches (September 2018)

West Virginia sports betting

The Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races booked the first legal sports wager in West Virginia this morning after launching two days ahead of schedule.

WV MetroNews reported today that Delegate Jason Barrett of Berkeley had the honors of placing the first legal bet in West Virginia. His choice: $50 on WVU to win the national football championship. He stands to win about $3,000 if WVU can pull it off.

Barrett told MetroNews that placing the state’s first wager was a piece of cake:

“It reminded me of betting on a horse race. You walk up to a counter and there’s a teller there and you tell them the wager you want to make. You hand them the cash and they hand you a ticket back.”

Hollywood Casino still has a grand opening ceremony scheduled for Saturday morning, during which the legendary Joe Theismann will kick off the party. The Hollywood Casino sportsbook will open at 8 AM Saturday with festivities starting at 11 AM.

Local media outlets had reported as recently as yesterday that the Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino would open on Saturday after successful system tests conducted by the West Virginia Lottery Commission. The casino finished its own preparations a few days early and opted to open the book this morning rather than wait until the weekend.

Hollywood Casino will have a monopoly over WV sports betting until the state’s other four casinos launch their own sportsbooks. Estimated start dates for the other casinos range from September through October, but we have no firm dates from others as of yet.

All five WV casinos have confirmed they will offer sports betting – with all hoping to go live early in the upcoming NFL season. Hollywood Casino may have first dibs on the new market, but other sportsbooks will be going live in the near future.

The next to go live may be the sportsbook at the Casino Club at the Greenbrier resort. This seems likely because the West Virginia Lottery Commission issued sports betting licenses to Hollywood Casino and FanDuel Sportsbook earlier this month. It only took two-and-a-half weeks for the Hollywood Casino sportsbook to launch after receiving its license, and FanDuel is partnered with the Greenbrier to conduct sports betting.

West Virginia joins a growing list of states with legal sports betting in operation. Nevada has had legal sports betting for decades, but PASPA prohibited every other state from legalizing single game sports betting until the Supreme Court struck it down in May.

In the three months since then, five states have passed legislation and four of those now have active, legal sportsbooks. Delaware was the first to launch, followed shortly by New Jersey and Mississippi.

Pennsylvania has also passed laws to legalize sports betting, but residents there are still waiting for the first sportsbooks to go live.

Hollywood Casino is in Position to Capitalize on West Virginia Sports Betting

Hollywood Casino is West Virginia’s largest sportsbook and also the most vulnerable to competition from other states due to its location, but will now be the only casino in the region with an active sportsbook. Additionally, Hollywood Casino Sportsbook will be the nearest option for everyone living in the Baltimore-Washington DC metro area.

Erich Zimny, VP of Racing and Sporting Operations at Hollywood Casino, told the Charleston Gazette-Mail that he expects sports betting to “add a lot of foot traffic.” Sports betting is not typically considered a major moneymaker for land-based casinos, but the mere act of getting people in the front door is good for business as those people explore other gaming, dining and entertainment options.

The addition of mobile and online sports betting may prove even more lucrative for Hollywood Casino as it offers a low-cost, always-on form of sports betting that has proven extremely lucrative for overseas operators. In-play betting, which allows customers to place short-term bets during games, will also result in greater betting volume and profits for WV sportsbooks.

A start date for online and mobile betting hasn’t been announced as the WV Lottery Commission is still working out how it will regulate online betting. However, WV MetroNews reported today that a Hollywood Casino mobile sports betting app is just “a few weeks away” from launch.

Comparing West Virginia to Pennsylvania

With this development, West Virginia is set to join Pennsylvania as one of the early adopters of sports betting in the USA. New Jersey, Delaware and Mississippi already have sports betting up and running. Pennsylvania is also on the short list with the gaming laws in place and the first operators having already applied for sports betting licenses.

Operators in West Virginia will have the advantage of favorable taxes and fees over their competitors across the border in Pennsylvania. While Pennsylvania casinos are required to cough up a $10 million licensing fee and pay 36% in taxes, operators in West Virginia will only be dealing with a $100,000 licensing fee every five years and a 10% tax rate.

West Virginia sportsbooks will have a distinct advantage over their competition across the border in Pennsylvania. The high tax rate Pennsylvania sportsbooks will pay has been the subject of considerable discussion, with many wondering how PA casinos will fare against competition from neighboring states and illegal bookmakers.

At one point, someone with William Hill USA flat out said they’re not interested in entering the PA market due to the costs associated with licenses. However, a handful of casinos and service providers have since applied for sports betting licenses in PA. Even so, the expensive operating environment will be an ongoing concern.

The vastly different licensing fees and tax rates between two neighboring states will serve as a useful case study in how tax rates impact the sports betting landscape. Both states have legalized online and in-person betting, but have chosen to pursue vastly different licensing and tax schemes.

Once WV and PA get their sports betting industry running, we’ll be able to compare the two states in terms of value offered to players, player retention, the ability to channel sports bettors to licensed options and revenue generated for the state.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported yesterday that the WV Lottery Commission has received numerous requests from other jurisdictions asking about the regulatory scheme.

Lottery Commission legal counsel Danielle Boyd told the Gazette-Mail, “it looks like they’re looking at copying our legislation.” These are promising words for those of us who believe the West Virginia model is better for the industry and players alike.

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