Virginia State Launching Sportsbooks in 2021

The United States of America has seen prominent growth throughout it’s sportsbetting industry in 2019 & 2020. States like New Jersey & Delaware prompted multiple others to follow suit, including Nevada. The latest state to implement legalized sportsbetting is Virginia, which announced its strategic plans for launching digital & land-based sportsbooks by 2021.

Estimates issued by financial advisors indicate that annual revenue of $412m can be earned for casinos operating in Virginia. Estimations issued notify that annual tax revenues earned for the State of Virginia would be $61.8 Million, with the overwhelming percentage of 90% arriving from online bets. Anticipated profits indicate that the mobile variation of sportsbetting in Virginia will account for $375 Million. This means industry-wide profits in the first year of $787 Million & that valuation is expected to increase by 2022. Virginia’s calculations indicate that by 2025, upwards of $1.5 Billion can be achieved in industry-wide profits. It’d permit the state to earn tax-generated revenue of $100 Million or more.

Analysts employed by the State of Virginia were questioned on the revenue growth. Analyst Geoff Fisk emphasised that: “Mobile wagering will dominate the Virginia market. We’ve seen online sports betting account for around 90% of revenue in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.”

Distributed Licenses in Virginia State

Geoff Fisk believes that offering the unique capability of providing remote wagering to civilians state-wide will drastically enhance profits. That isn’t anticipated to enter legal reform until 2021-22, which could be revised under the new leadership of President Joe Biden. That hasn’t deterred Virginia from moving forward, with the first iteration of legalised sportsbetting arriving for July 2020. Licenses are now being issued to twelve potential casinos & will be announced before February 2021.

Four licenses being granted are permitted to digital-exclusive operations, with the remaining eight provided to retail casinos across the state. Individuals wanting to compete with brick & mortar casinos must register their online accounts inside the casino, which can become challenging amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Monetary losses associated to Covid-19 could result in anticipated funds being lower than expectations.