Author:

Richard Miller

Last Updated:

February 26, 2021

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This author was thoroughly tested and approved by the experts at BettingBilly.com before joining the editorial board to ensure a high content quality.

Author Bio:

 

Richard was Marketing Manager at a global bookmaker and worked in the enterntainment sector for decades before working his way up in the world of entrepreneurs. His focus areas are mainly in the fields of sports and politics. He has a Science Degree, visited Harvard University and is now our hardworking Editor-in-Chief at BettingBilly.

Richard was Marketing Manager at a global bookmaker and worked in the enterntainment sector for decades before working his way up in the world of entrepreneurs. His focus areas are mainly in the fields of sports and politics. He has a Science Degree, visited Harvard University and is now our hardworking Editor-in-Chief at BettingBilly.

West Virginia Online Sports Betting in 2021

West Virginia has always been liberal towards gambling and we were by no means surprised to see them become the fifth US state to legalize online bookmakers. Bettors have had the luxury of placing wagers on their favorite teams both online and in land-based casinos/racinos since December 2018. West Virginia sports betting law is among the most relaxed ones in the whole country and the niche is thriving in the Mountain State at the turn of the decade as a consequence.

State legislature pushed the West Virginia sports betting bill in early-March 2018, more than two months before the Supreme Court repealed PASPA proving it unconstitutional. SB 415 was among the most comprehensive bills pushed by the state Senate and was promptly passed by the House. Governor Jim Justice made it law without his signature to avoid the conflict of interest given he was (still is) the owner of one of the five brick-and-mortar casinos within the state lines (The Greenbrier).

West Virginia sports betting rules were crafted by the State Lottery Commission who got the honor of controlling the industry. They allowed operations to several local casinos just in time for the 2018 NFL season. The initial bets were placed at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town on August 30^th, 2018. We can regard the date as an official launch of sports betting in West Virginia.

At the moment, West Virginians can visit one of the state’s five land-based casinos that offer full-time sports betting as a part of their gambling catalog. The state located in the Appalachian area of the Southern United States is among the smallest in size in the country. The current five sports betting venues are more than enough for its residents who don't have to cross miles and miles to place a wager.

The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs is a world-famous West Virginia sportsbook, preferred by wealthy gentlemen and often requiring a unique dress code. If you are looking for a more casual gambling environment, you won’t make a mistake by selecting one of the other four West Virginia sports gambling locations. The list of options includes the aforementioned Hollywood Casino at Charles Town, Mardi Gras Casino in Cross Lanes, Mountaineer Casino in New Cumberland, and Wheeling Island Casino in Wheeling.

Four months after a sportsbook in West Virginia accepted the inaugural sports bet, the industry line was expanded online via the launch of the BetLucky app. BetLucky temporarily ceased down in March 2019 following Miomni’s (its sports betting supplier) problems with a third-party vendor. The issue struck down Mardi Gras and Wheeling Island land-based operations as well. Luckily, both casinos enjoyed grand re-opening on January 31^st, 2020, just in time to take Super Bowl LIV picks.

Each of five land-based casinos has made partnerships with sports betting operators. Since the aforementioned legal disputes were resolved, online sports betting in West Virginia is expected to thrive as the professional sports leagues should resume after a long break caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The giants such as DraftKings and FanDuel took advantage of the situation and entered the ever-growing market on a high. The latter is partnered with The Greenbrier, while DraftKings provide sports betting services on behalf of Hollywood Casino. The Mountaineer Casino is teamed up with one of the world’s biggest brands in the niche, William Hill. Besides the top-tier set of markets for international soccer matches, the operator takes pride in offering the best thoroughbred racing odds. Finally, the above-mentioned Mardi Gras and Wheeling Island cooperate with IGT.

The operators reported a massive spike in online betting in West Virginia throughout the 2019 NFL season, getting almost $14 million in total handle, and averaging more than $1 million per month in revenue during the process.

West Virginia sports betting bill allows everyone to join the state’s exciting gambling environment. Those who are interested in doing so are required to pay a $100,000 fee to the West Virginia Lottery once in five years to keep hold of their licenses. The 10% “privilege tax” is the main obstacle for less popular sports betting operators, though. Although we’ve seen higher taxes imposed by the legislature in other states, it is still a hefty one and we are only about to see whether the current operators will be able to survive in such circumstances (especially after the COVID-19 outbreak).

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BetLucky launched the first West Virginia sports betting app in December 2018. Its licensing and technical disputes caused it to stop operating in March 2019, leaving room for other heavyweights to step in and fill the void. The likes of FanDuel and DraftKings went live in the Mountain State in August 2019, enriching the West Virginia mobile sports betting market. The local bettors have nothing to complain about regarding such a situation as they got to enjoy even more extensive betting offers thanks to the availability of America’s finest operators.

Anyone aged 21 or older, physically located within the state’s borders, is in for an exciting and broad array of betting options through five online mobile betting apps, each operating on behalf of the state's brick-and-mortar casinos. The greater the range of options is, the easier it is for the bettors to shop for lines and get the best possible betting experience. We’ll conclude the section by saying that all apps use geolocation software to make sure the bets are placed inside the state lines.

Unfortunately for the local bettors, they do not have a professional league team to cheer for when placing the wagers in the Mountain State. West Virginia Mountaineers and the Marshall Thundering Herd are the biggest two names associated with the sports in the state. The Mountaineers represent the West Virginia University in the NCAA Division I, while the latter squad features the same division on behalf of Marshall University.

There are several other semi-professional and minor sports outfits within the state's borders such as Wheeling Nailers, West Virginia Power, West Virginia Black Bears, Bluefield Blue Jays, West Virginia Roughriders, etc., but a vast majority of them does not enter the betting lists of the state’s operators.

In the absence of proper teams to cheer for, the West Virginians have turned to neighboring states and have adopted their professional teams as their own. A vast majority of the Mountain State residents thus root for Pittsburgh Steelers, while Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers are their favorite NBA clubs. While Steelers are always somewhat of Super Bowl contenders (Ben Roethlisberger is still an active player), the latter-mentioned NBA outfits are miles away from the crème of the sport at this stage. The Cavaliers are suffering badly ever since losing LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, while the Wizards have never been a major force on the East (at least in the last couple of decades).

To sum this part up, we can say basketball and football are the most popular sports in the state. Marshall Thundering Herd and West Virginia Mountaineers at least contribute to some sort of excitement during the NCAA season.

Sports betting is fully legal in the Mountain State, meaning the bettors are truly spoilt for choice between an impressive range of sports and markets on the menu. In terms of the restrictions, these are bound to high school sports and competitions between youth teams (under 18 years of age) only. All professional and college sports are available for betting, and the array is not limited to the five major US leagues. NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and MLS are clearly the most dominant competitions among the local bettors, but the reports claim the West Virginians are also huge fans of CSL, eSports and NASCAR betting.

The presence of the industry giants such as William Hill, DraftKings, and FanDuel contributes to an incredibly wide selection of markets, including spread betting, live betting, prop bets, futures, etc. We can't forget worldwide popular sports like soccer and tennis either.

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West Virginians first encountered legal gambling through horse and greyhound racing in 1931. Charles Town Races and Mountaineer Race Track hosted thoroughbred races, while Wheeling and Tri-State Race Track (currently popular as Mardi Gras Casino) were home to greyhound races. If you take a look at the current list of land-based casinos in the state, you can recognize each of these tracks, now present in the form of racinos.

Just more than half a decade later, the local voters approved the state lottery (in 1984). At first, you could have only bought traditional tickets, but it expanded into a video lottery ten years later. Table games and live poker were added in 2007, while video poker inhabited the state in the 1990s although the Limited Video Lottery Act was not brought before the beginning of the new millennium (2001). The tax rate was an enormous 52% in 2007.

West Virginia racinos held a monopoly all up until 2006 when Pennsylvania legalized racetracks. A decline in profits was evident after 2010 when Pennsylvania introduced table games. The Mountain State is one of only a few states to have legalized and regulated both land-based and online betting in 2018.  They still attract players from neighboring Kentucky and Virginia as these two states do not have casino venues of their own.  Although West Virginia sports betting regulations make it relatively easy for any interested operator to enter the market, the state’s small land area and the lack of professional sports teams significantly limit the revenue in this niche.

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Conclusion: Enjoy West Virginia Sports Betting

West Virginia has embraced all forms of sports gambling in the last couple of years. Sports betting is available both physical casinos (there are five such venues in the Mountain State at the moment) and online. The range of betting options and markets is enormous, and we can only expect the whole industry to shine in the next few months/years.

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