Data from the Virginia Lottery showed that sportsbooks in the state took an overall handle of $351.5m in May, a 55% increase year-on-year.
The lottery revealed that the 14 licensed operators in the Old Dominion State earned a combined hold rate of 12.1% between May 1 and May 31, whereas only seven operators were active in May 2021.
This combined hold rate is the highest of the year so far (January: 8%, February 6.5%, March: 7.2%, April: 9.1%).
However, sportsbooks have taken in bigger handles during previous months of 2022, with figures in February and March boosted by the Super Bowl and March Madness, respectively.
Meanwhile, Virginia bettors won a total of $308.9m during the month, and a combined total of $5.3bn has been wagered on a wide variety of approved sporting events throughout the first five months of 2022.
Under state law, a 15% tax is placed on sports betting activity based on each permit holder’s AGR. Operators are permitted to deduct certain customer acquisition costs from AGR, and they reported nearly $10m in bonuses and free-play incentives in May.
Five operators reported net positive AGR for May, leading to $3.9m in tax payments.
